Countdown to Forever
by V. Shalyr
Summary: Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't do miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one... KaiShin
1. XII Endings and Beginnings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 1 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

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**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

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**XII**

**Endings and Beginnings**

The two young men dressed in slightly tattered but otherwise nondescript clothes arrived at the mansion gate as the day had just given way to dusk. No car had been seen or heard bringing them and, while someone listening very carefully would have been able to hear the soft footfalls of one, the steps of the other were completely and almost eerily silent. They moved wearily but with purpose, the assured steps of people who were more than ready to return home at last from a long journey. And what a journey it had been.

The figure in the lead ran his hands lightly across the lock and the gate swung open with a slight creak. His companion was too exhausted to chide him about using a key, instead making his slow but steady way up the driveway and onto the front step he had last stood upon almost one year before. His key clicked in the lock and he stepped into the warm, muffled silence. No one else was home but he had expected as much. His parents almost never stayed in Japan anymore, and with their son in hiding for the past several months, there really hadn't been much reason for them to return. He stood for a long moment with his eyes closed just breathing in the familiar, slightly musty smell of the old mansion. It was good to be back.

Finally noticing that his companion hadn't followed him, he turned and raised his eyebrows inquiringly. "Kaito, you coming in?"

For a second his companion remained motionless, indigo eyes fixed upon the silver orb of the moon that was just becoming visible in the encroaching darkness. Then he grinned, a flash of white teeth in shadows, and took the last few steps out of the cold night air. "Of course, Shin-chan, thought you'd never ask."

Shinichi snorted, shutting the door behind him. "Like you've ever needed to be asked before."

Letting himself into places no one had asked him to be was something of a specialty for Kaito after all. What self respecting thief needed permission to be anywhere? Certainly not one as skilled as the Moonlight Magician.

"Hmm, quite so, but this time is different."

Shinichi paused with his hand still resting lightly upon the door. Yes, this time was different. He'd been trying very hard all the way here not to think about that. Because this time, the Organization and all its various branches had finally been destroyed. This time, they weren't running for their lives or trying to figure out who they could trust and who they couldn't. This time, Hakuba and Heiji were both safely in their respective homes, probably hesitantly trying to reconnect with the people they had had to leave behind.

This time, Shinichi owed Kaito an answer.

"Looks like we'll have a bit of redecorating to do," Kaito observed lightly, leaving his shoes by the door and making a beeline for the kitchen. "Way too gloomy in here. But for now, I think something to eat is in order."

They hadn't eaten since breakfast.

"Great, but I'm not sure if there's anything edible left in this house."

It _had _been a long time after all, ten months or so to be more exact. Strange, it had felt much longer.

"Mm, I thought about that so I picked some stuff up before we left the hotel. Is pasta okay with you? It's easy and fast. I've also got some oatmeal, some bread, ham—I would have liked to get eggs but I was afraid they'd go bad."

"Whatever is fine."

Shinichi knew better than to ask. The fact that Kaito didn't seem to be carrying any packages didn't mean a thing. He'd seen the magician conceal stranger things than groceries about his person and he seldom let himself ponder too long over the illogicalities of it all anymore.

They made dinner in relative silence, Kaito throwing together ingredients for the pasta while Shinichi moved about the kitchen making coffee and hot chocolate. It had more or less become routine during their months on the road going from one hideout to another, each of them taking turns doing their part of the meal. Not to say they didn't eat out as well—the four of them were hardly the best cooks in the world and they had gotten sick of one another's cooking more than once—but it always required so much hassle with new disguises and new personas that it had usually been safer and plain simpler to make do. And, well, there was something nice about the routine too when so many things in their lives had been so constantly subject to change.

"You know, if I'm going to be staying here," Kaito said casually, placing two plates on the table and taking a seat, "I'm going to need a workroom."

_Can I stay?_ Shinichi translated in his head.

"You could convert one of the rooms on the second floor. I'm pretty sure we have at least one that doesn't have windows."

_You didn't have to ask. _

They hadn't really talked about it, but Shinichi had assumed the thief would continue to stay with him. It wasn't like Kaito really had anywhere else to go. His mother was still staying with their relatives and it wouldn't have been safe for her to return yet anyway. Even with the fall of the Black Organization, many of its members including the sniper Snake remained at large and Pandora had yet to be found. Shinichi wasn't entirely happy about the fact that Kaitou KID would still be carrying out heists and putting himself in danger in order to find a jewel that might not even really exist, but if Kaito had to continue to make himself a target like that, he would rather he stayed somewhere where he could keep an eye on him.

The last thing Shinichi wanted was a repeat of the incident that had started this whole mess. Granted, everything had worked out in the end and he had that "incident" to thank for getting his body back and the disbanding of the Organization. But he had also come so close to losing so much—too close, even though he hadn't known it then.

These thoughts drew his attention back to Kaito seated across the table from him. The magician was musing aloud about what he would like to do when they had the time to refurnish the house though Shinichi noted how his indigo eyes flickered about the room, probably cataloging all the possible exits and hiding places out of habit. If anyone had chosen that moment to barge in on them, unlikely as that was, they would be gone within seconds. Occasionally, the detective would make a sound of agreement or distaste for Kaito's plans and he would chuckle before moving on, though he hardly heard the words he was paying so much attention to just the sound of the magician's voice.

Really, it was a miracle that Kaito was still alive. He could still remember that night like it was yesterday instead of more than a year and a half ago—when the internationally wanted criminal Kaitou KID had become Kuroba Kaito.

And it had all begun, as so many other things did when it came to him and Kaito, on one of the magician's heists. Only unlike all those other times, this heist had not been publicized and the only people who had known about it were the thief himself and the group that had both been hunting him and been hunted by him for so long…

.

"Over there, I think I heard something!"

"Is it him?"

"I don't know."

"Stop flapping your lips and get moving! I _refuse_ to lose him again after coming so close."

That last voice, cold and biting, sent a shiver down Shinichi's spine and he quickened his steps, breaking into an all out run. He didn't think they were talking about him, but they would see him if he stayed here any longer. He really should have been more careful. Ai would probably have a fit if she knew he'd seen possible agents of the Black Organization and just followed them. That was, after all, how he'd ended up shrunk in the first place, his biological clock turned back ten years from seventeen to seven.

Too late to think about that now.

His heart leapt into his throat as the relative silence of the night was broken by a gunshot and the ping of a bullet ricocheting off the concrete at his feet. He stumbled but recovered quickly and forced himself to run faster as the sound of shouting broke out behind him.

Skidding around the corner and bolting blindly down the dark street, Shinichi squeaked in surprise as hands grabbed him and lifted him up into the air. A gloved hand clamped over his mouth to muffle the sound and an oddly familiar voice whispered near his ear.

"Quiet, Tantei-kun. We don't want them to find us."

Shinichi stilled. He definitely recognized that voice, though he couldn't understand why he was hearing it here.

A moment later several men ran past below their hiding spot, their footfalls fading into the distance. They waited in tense silence until the sounds of his pursuers could no longer be heard.

The hand over his mouth relaxed just a little and Shinichi squirmed around to peer into the shadowed face of the international thief known popularly as Kaitou KID. "What are you doing here?"

Despite the grimness of their situation, KID managed one of his trademark smirks. "I could ask the same of you. But now's neither the time nor the place."

Shinichi frowned, blue eyes narrowed. Those men—could they have been looking for KID? But what in the world did the thief have to do with the Black Organization?

Even as these questions raced through his mind, KID had begun to move. Instead of dropping down into the street, he turned and peered at the wall behind them.

"Tantei-kun, I need you to hold on. I'll need both my hands."

Shinichi hesitated for only a moment before nodding and allowing himself to be shifted around so he could hang on to the thief from behind. When KID was sure he was securely on his back, he started up the side of the building, moving quickly and silently, yet even so Shinichi could tell immediately that something was wrong. The thief's movements, though quick for most people, were still slow for him and seemed oddly stiff.

"KID? Are you all right?"

The thief gave a slightly strained chuckle. "I've been better."

Minutes dragged by until the thief finally pulled them up onto the roof. If he hadn't been observing KID so closely, he might have missed the sudden tensing of his muscles before he relaxed again. The thief's indigo gaze was fixed on something on the other side of the roof, but Shinichi wasn't given a chance to look as KID straightened, casually taking a step forward and turning so that the billowing folds of his cape blocked the child from view.

"I should have known you were behind this."

Who was he talking to? At the sound of the safety being clicked off a gun, Shinichi froze in the act of trying to peer around him.

The same cold, menacing voice he'd heard earlier cut through the soft rustle of KID's cape in the wind. "Yes, and it seems I've won this time."

"Won?" KID laughed darkly, his voice icy in a way that made Shinichi shiver. He'd never heard the thief sound like that before. "As they say, this battle perhaps, but not the war."

The man sneered. "Arrogant little brat to the end I see. But I'd say that your luck has finally run out. The condition you're in, I'm surprised you're even still on your feet."

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises."

"That may be, but there's no way you'll be able to escape from the ground, and up here, there's me."

"So it seems. However, I am, after all, a magician."

The man growled and pulled the trigger. KID jerked to the side, ducked, and rolled, sweeping Shinichi up into his arms. Then the air exploded with smoke, angry yells, and the ring of gunshots, and the ground fell away beneath their feet. For one heart-stopping moment they were in freefall, then KID's glider engaged and they swerved sharply up into the sky, high over the buildings and into the night.

Shinichi turned his head to glance back at the building dropping away fast behind them, but the man was already nothing more than a little black dot dimly lit by moonlight. "What was that all about? Why were those people after you?"

KID didn't answer and Shinichi noticed again how his breathing seemed slightly ragged. The strained quality was back in his voice again when he asked, "Is there somewhere nearby where I can drop you off?"

Shinichi considered this. "Beika Street isn't too far from here."

"Right."

Twisting around even more in the thief's grasp, Shinichi squinted, trying to make out any details in the shadow and moonlight. Dampness was seeping into his clothes where he was pressed against the magician and he realized with a sudden stab of horror that the dark streaks that tainted the pale cloth of the other's garments were, in fact, blood, almost black in the silver moonlight.

"You're hurt!" Had he been shot? But he was almost sure those last bullets had missed their mark. Earlier than that?

"Worried about me, Tantei-kun?"

Shinichi scowled, completely un-amused and perhaps just a touch disturbed by the laughter in the thief's voice. "You idiot, of _course_ I'm worried! _Your clothes are drenched in blood_!"

And he was pretty sure it had to be the thief's blood. Famous thief though he may be, KID was also very well known for his strictly nonviolent rules. And while accidents did happen, they were never like this.

His worry only escalated when KID stumbled as they landed in the backyard of the Kudou manor. The thief caught himself, staggered again, then dropped to his knees, cursing under his breath.

"KID?" Shinichi was in front of him at once, trying not to panic while reaching out to steady him with a hand on his shoulder. "KID!"

Dull, indigo eyes struggled for a moment to focus on him then seemed to give up, sliding shut as their owner slumped soundlessly onto the grass.

.

…Kaito had lost a lot of blood, too much blood, and remembering the feel of it soaking through his shirt still made Shinichi sick. It was amazing that KID had made it even that far; he must have been running on pure willpower. If it had been anyone else he would have called an ambulance, but as it were, he and the thief had ended up next door in Doctor Agasa's house. Ai and the professor had raised a few eyebrows but refrained from asking questions, at least until later. Appropriate calls had been placed to the Mouri residence and then all he could do was sit back and watch Ai work.

That one strange night had brought with it so many questions, questions he had had to wait for the thief to wake up to answer—_if_ he woke up, but he hadn't allowed himself to think about that.

The detective hadn't realized until then how much he had come to see KID as a constant in his life. So many things had gone wrong in the past two years, being turned into a small child by a poison that had been meant to kill him, being besieged by murder cases and yet still being so far away from solving the case he really wanted to resolve, and how he often felt like he was drifting away from everyone and everything from his life as the high school detective Shinichi Kudou. Yet through it all, KID had remained unchanged, somehow seemed to know all his secrets and treated him like the detective he was rather than the child he appeared to be. He had come to expect him to always be there, an infuriating but intriguing rival, a challenge free from the usual death that seemed to dog his own footsteps. Only now, it seemed as though the mysteries behind the mischievous and seemingly carefree Moonlight Magician contained more than a few dark secrets of their own.

The thief had drifted in and out of consciousness for days, sometimes talking with Shinichi and sometimes mumbling semi-incoherent things under his breath as though talking with someone else—apologizing for something Shinichi could never quite catch. From the fragments of information he managed to get in the thief's moments of clarity, he'd managed to piece together a story that was both so different and yet so similar to his own.

"_She's like you, isn't she?" The question cutting through the silence as the door shut behind Haibara. _

"_Yeah."_

"_Was she a nosy, high school detective too?" asked with more humor than Shinichi thought someone in the thief's position ought to be able to muster up. _

_A half annoyed, half concerned frown. "No, a scientist. But that's not important right now. What were you doing at that particular office building?" _

"_It's probably better if you don't know." _

"_The Black Organization." _

_KID's startled eyes jerking towards him, a surprised bark of laughter that had no humor in it. "So you know about them too." _

"_What happened?" _

What had happened was an elaborate trap, months in the making and all to lure the elusive Phantom Thief out into the open and into the Organization's jaws.

"_I guess they got tired of trying to pick me off during my heists. My fault really for falling for it, but I had to be sure they didn't have it…" _

"_Why were they after you?" _

"…_Because I'm after something they want." _

"_A jewel?" _

"_Pandora, a jewel that shines red in the light of the full moon and sheds tears that grant immortality." A dry chuckle laced with more sadness than amusement. "No need to look at me like that, Tantei-kun. I assure you that I'm being perfectly serious." _

And he _had_ been serious, which in itself had been unsettling in a way. It was probably one of the first serious conversations they'd had, and it had occurred to the detective to wonder about that. Perhaps it was because they had discovered that they shared a common enemy. Perhaps it was because the thief had decided it would be easier to reach his goal if he told the truth, or as much of the truth as he had been comfortable with giving away. Or perhaps it was how close he had come to not making it that night and the realization that next time, he might not get away. Haibara had informed Shinichi that her patient had more than a few old scars, and yet no officer from the Kaitou KID Taskforce would ever even think of drawing a gun on their quarry. It just wasn't done—was against the rules somehow.

"_This has happened before?" _

"_If you mean the shooting then yes." _

"_Then why didn't you stop? You couldn't possibly have expected to be able to handle them on your own, and as KID, you wouldn't be able to get the help of the police." _

"…_They took someone very important from me… I won't let them do that to someone else. The police can only do so much without hard evidence, you know that. I won't let them have what they want. And as long as their eyes are on me…" _

As long as their eyes were on Kaito, they wouldn't target anyone else, at least not where Pandora was concerned.

Shinichi hadn't pressed him after that. Whatever had happened, KID obviously hadn't wanted to talk about it. Sometimes the deepest wounds, the ones that really changed a person's life, were the ones that you couldn't let heal because they were too much a part of you even when they hurt.

At least Shinichi hadn't had anything taken from him that couldn't be gotten back.

KID had laughed himself silly when he'd learned just how exactly Shinichi had ended up as a seven-year-old, bemused by what he considered a certain lack of common sense shared by detectives in general and genius high school detectives in particular. Shinichi had scowled in disgruntlement but let him laugh because it was almost a relief to see the mischief back in the thief's indigo eyes. His patience was rewarded when KID snapped his fingers and was suddenly holding a small, black case.

"_Hmm, pills you said? Like these?" _

_Blue eyes widening behind fake glasses, a small hand reaching out to snatch the case from him and flip it open to examine its contents, "This is—but how did you get it?" _

_KID's trademark grin finally making its reappearance, "It was on the man I was planning to impersonate on my way out before things got out of hand. I was wondering what they were… Ne, Tantei-kun, it seems like we both have skills to offer for the sake of the chase, no?" _

And that was how their partnership had begun really. It had been surprisingly easy to start working with Kaito, even though relying on others had been something Shinichi had had to learn as Conan and Kaito was only just starting to teach himself. They may have represented opposite sides of the law, may have been different in many ways, but they also had a great deal in common especially when it came to their desire to protect those around them and the things they valued—not so much truth perhaps but _life_ and their own kinds of justice. The bottom line was that they _understood_ one another, perhaps better than anyone else ever could because they could understand both the truths and the lies, their masks and what their masks sought to hide.

Well, perhaps "understood" was a bit strong. You could only understand so much when it came to someone like KID who was known for his insanity. Shinichi hadn't quite realized just how insane until he'd met Kaito as Kaito for the first time and not as KID…

.

"You're late."

The young man who had slid into the chair across from him flashed a razor-edged grin that he recognized all too well from years of chasing after a particular magician thief. "Sorry, Hakuba was being particularly persistent today."

Lifting his eyes from his book, Shinichi couldn't help but stare. Of course he'd seen the thief before while he was recuperating at his house, but it was still hard to get used to. The person sitting across from him could have passed for his twin to a casual observer though there were little differences here and there. His hair was brown instead of black and messier than Shinichi's ever was even without the aid of a comb. His eyes had a tinge more purple in them and the angles of his face were just a little sharper, and if they both stood up he might have been just a little taller. Still, the resemblance was uncanny.

"Hakuba? As in the detective Hakuba Saguru who's almost always at KID heists?"

"The one and only."

"You mean he knows?"

"He suspects, though of course he doesn't have any proof. We both go to Ekoda High School. In fact, he's in my class."

"And he makes a habit of tailing you?"

"Trying to prove I'm KID, yeah. He normally gives up after school because Aoko's with me, but when I'm alone he can make himself a real nuisance."

"Nakamouri Aoko, Inspector Nakamouri's daughter?"

"Yup, she's a good friend of mine."

Shinichi shook his head. No wonder Kaito was a good actor. He did nothing but practice all the time. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"So I've been told," the magician agreed cheerfully, though there might have been a hint of wistfulness there too and Shinichi was pretty sure he knew why. It was hard to remain close to people, even people you'd known all your life, if you constantly had to lie to them. When Shinichi had taken the antidote and finally told Ran about being Conan, she'd hit him, hugged him, then stormed off. Relations between them after that had been awkward to say the least. Whether they liked it or not, Conan had changed them both and they couldn't go back to how they were. They still cared about one another, but not in the same way they had before. Finally, after a week of walking on eggshells around one another, they had sat down and had the conversation they probably should have had the week before.

Briefly, Shinichi wondered what it must be like to be surrounded by friends who put all their energy into trying to put your alter ego behind bars. At least Ran had been understanding and neither of them had been too badly hurt by the whole fiasco. In fact, it was more like they had both gotten a sibling out of it and, considering neither of them had any actual brothers or sisters, it really wasn't such a bad deal.

"I brought some of my more recent files on them," Kaito said, his tone so casual that Shinichi almost missed the implications. "When I can, I try to follow the snipers back—trace their footsteps, take some pictures, and record anything else I think might be useful."

Shinichi accepted the folders he slid across the table and resisted the urge to flip through them, carefully stowing them in his book bag instead for later where he could be sure of some privacy. "I still can't believe you never said anything. To think that you were playing such a dangerous game with your heists…"

While at the same time facing off with one, two, or sometimes three detectives no less, along with Inspector Nakamouri and the rest of his Taskforce.

"What was I supposed to say? Oh, and hey—incidentally, a bunch of immortality-seeking madmen are trying to kill me, but don't worry, I deal with them all the time?"

Shinichi snorted. "Still, there must have been another way."

"Isn't there always? The difference is between a good way, a better way, and the best way, and of course we always choose the way we think is best." Taking a sip of his tea, Kaito added almost as an afterthought, sparing his watch an exaggerated glance, "Ah, dear Hakuba should be here in twenty minutes, thirty minutes tops. I couldn't resist leaving him a present on the corner so he'll probably be a bit angry. We'd better move. I know a really good bookstore a few streets away and it should give us at least another hour. Then there's this restaurant near the train station that I've been dying to try."

.

…It had been a time of endings and beginnings. And even though it was death that had led their paths to cross, it had also been a time for _living_. Because nothing, not even brushes with death—or perhaps because of them—ever got in the way of Kaito and Life. It was one of the things Shinichi had come to admire about him

And well, the magician was good company. If they had met under different circumstances, they would probably have been friends a long time ago. But as it were, Shinichi supposed it was better late than never.

But then—to Shinichi, it seemed completely out of the blue—something changed. And the rules of their relationship were turned upside-down yet again…

.

The two of them sat at a table by the windows of a small café. It had become one of their unofficial meeting places where they went just to talk, not only about their plans or speculations concerning the Organization but their lives, friends, troubles, and sometimes dreams—anything that came to mind. It was located part of the way between Beika and Ekoda, just close enough for it to be convenient but far enough away so that people who knew them were unlikely to stumble across the two of them together and start asking questions. Though really, with how much time they had begun to spend here, Shinichi was rather surprised people hadn't started to take note of them.

Their illusion of normalcy was probably owed in no small part to the fact that he had yet to stumble across a single murder in all the time he had spent there. This was both a relief and a bit of a shock considering his usual bad luck in the matter, and if he had been more of a superstitious person, he might have suspected that Kaito somehow balanced him out. After all, when it came to the game of life, the magician seemed to have a tendency to be insanely fortunate. Or perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that he had a way about him of bending reality so that it suited his purposes, so it wasn't so much a matter of luck as a matter of the thief being a master of manipulation. He seemed to be able to wear the world in the same way he wore his disguises, nudging it just a little here and there so that he fit seamlessly into the scenery. It was a talent Shinichi rather envied. Before his time as Conan, he had welcomed the attention, basked and thrived in it. But more and more often now, all he wanted was to fade into the background.

"I've come to a very important decision."

Shinichi looked up into Kaito's face with a mixture of trepidation and relief. The magician had been acting strange lately and he'd honestly begun to feel a bit worried, but now it seemed he was finally going to find out the reasons behind his friend's recent distraction.

Kaito grinned his usual, manic grin but the eyes that met his were utterly, almost disturbingly serious. For a moment, Shinichi wondered if the snipers had started showing up again. They'd been oddly quiet according to Kaito after their last failed attempt on his life and it made Shinichi worry what they were planning now, but instead, Kaito announced, "I've decided that someday, I'm going to make you mine."

Shinichi choked on his coffee. "What?"

"I've always been perfectly honest when I say you're my favorite detective, and I've been thinking about it a lot lately and I'm sure now that I like you. You and Mouri-san aren't seeing each other and I'm not seeing anyone else, so as I see it, the way is clear. And if there are problems—well, I'm sure I can win you over."

That said, Kaito pulled the coffee mug from Shinichi's unresisting fingers, cupped his chin with his hand, leaned over and planted a chaste kiss upon his lips. Then he departed from the café with a brilliant smile and a wave, leaving a very stunned detective alone at their table now worried for an entirely different reason.

Endings and beginnings indeed.

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**TBC… (next chapter, XI Of Magician Thieves and Skewed Romances) **

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**Author's Note**: I hope you enjoyed it! This first chapter is a bit more serious because it's setting up for some of the more serious themes. Please let me know if it is confusing. The events in this story are not always going to be very linear since I am going back to the events of one and a half years before the "present" time where this chapter starts. In any case, thank you for reading and please review!


	2. XI Of Magician Thieves and Skewed Romanc

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 2 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

**AN:** To everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I'd just like to say thanks! It's motivational to know that people are liking the story. And hopefully, it will continue not to be too confusing. I'm sorry if it was unclear that Shinichi was still Conan at the start of the flashbacks last time. Eh heh, I also kind of like how telling a story semi-backwards means I don't have to be worried about suddenly finding out someone dies. Anyhow, on to the main event!

Also, regarding flashbacks, all sections leading into and out of a flashback end and/or begin with three periods (an ellipse). I hope that makes it clear enough.

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**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

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**XI**

**Of Magician Thieves and Skewed Romances**

If Shinichi had learned one thing about Kuroba Kaito, it was that he was relentlessly persistent when it came to things he wanted. And Shinichi quickly discovered that when Kaito had declared his intentions at the café, he had been completely serious. Even now looking back after everything that had happened in between, Shinichi wasn't quite sure what to make of it all.

It had started with little things like the roses…

.

Shinichi stared at the single long-stemmed, red rose on his bedside table, trying very hard not to think about how it had gotten there. Of course, he knew Kaito never used a key when he visited his house even though Shinichi had provided him with one some time ago. Still, knowing the thief was sneaking in while he was awake was one thing. Knowing he was sneaking around while he was asleep was another.

After trying unsuccessfully for several minutes to work out what to do with the flower, Shinichi finally gave up and decided to pretend he hadn't noticed.

One week of "not noticing" the new rose every morning and the vase that had turned up for them to be put in and he woke up to find the damned things all around him in bed. There must have been a couple hundred of them and his room looked more like a mini rose garden. Shinichi could only thank the fact that the magician thief was meticulous in all his endeavors and taken care to remove all the thorns or he would have had a very angry detective on his hands. As it were, he'd simply had a slightly annoyed and embarrassed one, which he was quite accustomed to dealing with and maybe a little too fond of. Having breakfast and a cup of fresh coffee ready just in case probably hadn't hurt either.

"What in the world is your problem?" Shinichi demanded, glowering across the table at his uninvited houseguest.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kaito replied airily, drizzling way too much syrup over his pancakes.

"_The roses_, Kaito, I'm talking about the roses."

"You don't like them?"

The magician gave him a wide-eyed, slightly hurt look that Shinichi was sure was a hundred percent fake but still made him feel just a little bit guilty.

"That's not the point here," he mumbled, blushing faintly. "If you're not going to stop, you could at least give them to me like a normal person."

The next morning, Shinichi was relieved to find that no more roses were added to his bedroom decor. At least when Kaito grinned and presented him with a rose every time they met, it was a good deal less creepy.

.

…Then there were the seemingly random, unannounced visits, usually at unholy hours or awkward moments, like when he'd simply shown up to accompany Shinichi's class on their field trip to the Beika art museum…

.

Shinichi stared at the person waving cheerfully at him from where he was perched _on top _of the bus. Somehow, he couldn't find it in himself to be surprised anymore. Or maybe he was just tired after the magician had shown up at his house to drag him out for hot chocolate at two in the morning. He had to wonder sometimes—with KID heists and school and his spontaneous outings—if the magician even needed to sleep.

Swinging himself off the bus with practiced ease, Kaito draped himself over the detective's shoulders, ignoring the stares and whispers they were getting from the other students. "Hi, Shinichi! What took you so long? I've been waiting for half an hour."

"Kaito! What are you doing here?" he hissed, pulling the magician aside and trying unsuccessfully to pry him off him.

"Aww, Shin-chan, aren't you happy to see me?"

The detective scowled at the nickname but refrained from commenting. It wasn't like it would do any good anyway. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Mom called them and told them I was sick so that I could go on your field trip with you."

"Why in the world would she do that?" He paused then, "I thought you told me your mother was visiting a friend in Paris."

Kaito's grin widened a fraction. "She is."

The pieces clicked into place in his head and Shinichi groaned. "Don't tell me, _you _called your school as your mother and told them you were sick."

"Spot on as usual," Kaito confirmed cheerily. "Classes are pretty boring anyways, they're always so _easy_. Spending the day with you is much more fun. Now hurry up or we're going to get left behind."

Kaito wasted no time introducing himself to the many curious students that gathered around to meet them before the bus door. The entire bus ride to the art museum, Kaito monopolized everyone's attention with showers of confetti, fancy card tricks and brightly colored juggling balls, and flocks of doves that seemed to appear and disappear into thin air. By the time they disembarked, most of the other occupants of the bus looked torn between equal parts amusement, shock, confusion, awe, and maybe a little bit of fear. It was probably pretty typical characteristics of first-time exposure to Kaito's madness.

In the chaos of obtaining museum passes for everyone plus one extra courtesy of Kaito, Ran pulled Shinichi aside and demanded, "Shinichi, who _is_ that? How come I've never met him before?"

"His name is Kuroba Kaito," Shinichi mumbled, unable to meet her intensely curious stare. "He's not really from around here."

Which was true, though it certainly never stopped the magician from visitng everyday.

"Hmm, is that so?" There was a distinctly calculating glint in her eyes for some reason and it sent warning bells going off in his head right away. "So how did the two of you meet then? On one of your cases?"

"Sort of," he answered vaguely, but she wasn't going to let this go that easily especially after she'd watched the way the two boys interacted. Instead of asking more questions, she just folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows.

After a long, tense war of silence, Shinichi finally relented and added, "We met at a KID heist."

Well, that was a little unexpected. Ran would have thought it would've been nearly impossible to really make acquaintances with anyone amidst the mass havoc traditional at KID heists, especially with most of those masses being obsessed, insane KID fans like her friend Suzuki Sonoko. And Shinichi had always been a bit too awkward in the social arena to make friends easily, or to bother with tat sort of thing at all when there was other work to be done. She was pretty sure you never ran out of "work" at a KID heist if you were working with the police.

"Shin-chan!"

Shinichi jumped a little and Ran started. Neither of them had seen the magician approaching but there he was nonetheless—just like magic, she thought wryly.

"Ah, and who do we have here?" The magician swept her an elegant bow and offered her a yellow rose that seemed to materialize out of nowhere along with a charming smile. "Miss Ran Mouri, right? It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Blushing faintly, Ran accepted the flower and smiled back. "Thank you, it's nice to meet you too."  
Her eyebrows shot up as Kaito turned and offered Shinichi a rose as well, only this one was red in color. The detective looked embarrassed but said nothing, just put the flower in his bag as Kaito went bounding off to meet the newly arrived tour guide.

So Shinichi had met Kaito at a KID heist. The Phantom Thief KID was an extremely talented magician, as was Kaito from what she'd seen. And Shinichi only ever really met three kinds of people on his cases—police officers, detectives, and criminals.

Well, that wasn't really evidence but it was enough to convince her. Shinichi and KID had always had an enigmatic sort of relationship and she had noticed he seemed a lot more preoccupied lately with the magician thief. This _would_ explain a lot.

"Let's go, it looks like they're waiting for us," Shinichi said without looking at her, slinging his bag over his shoulder once more. "And it looks like if we don't get over there soon, Kaito's going to drive that poor guide insane."

Falling into step beside him, Ran smirked. "You know, Sonoko would be _so_ jealous."

Shinichi jerked and spun around to stare at her with a deer-in-the-headlights sort of expression that almost made her laugh. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. Besides, I think you two look rather cute together."

Ignoring his now slightly scandalized look, she grinned and went to see what else she could learn about her childhood friend's new friend.

.

…Not even Shinichi's usual bad luck with murders could get in the way of Kaito's plans. It was kind of nice but almost to the point of creepiness how many times people could have but did _not_ end up dying…

.

It had started with breakfast, which they had decided to eat at a small, corner restaurant where both the coffee and the hot chocolate were acceptable. When the woman two tables down suddenly toppled limply from her seat, Shinichi, of course, rushed over to see what he could do, more than half expecting the woman to be dead. He was relieved and happy when it turned out the poison hadn't managed to actually kill her, but the thing was—the thing was that it _should_ have. It had been an extremely potent chemical and she'd ingested more than enough for it to be lethal, but somehow, miraculously, the effects had been delayed and the ambulance arrived in time to save her. Of course, Shinichi knew fundamentally that such coincidences were possible. Would-be-murderers didn't always succeed in carrying out their plans. It was just that these things usually never got to happen around _him_.

Then as they finally left the investigation behind and were halfway down the street, someone fell from the sky right in front of them—and did _not_ crash upon the unforgiving concrete, having been saved by a semi-fortunate landing upon a car parked just below. No one had been in the car, which was good because it was completely totaled even as the man who had fallen got up and left with only a few scrapes and a broken arm rather than a broken head.

When a car on the freeway suddenly went wild and went careening off the road before erupting into flames—but only after its driver had been thrown out of death's way because his seatbelt had malfunctioned and come loose at the crucial moment, Shinichi knew that something was off. Granted, it was off in a good way but still _off_.

"Stop fretting over it," Kaito advised cheerily, steering the dazed detective firmly away from the site of the accident—which had actually, for once, turned out to _be_ an accident. "Just be glad no one's died, and we can go get that ice cream, okay?"

.

…And it was almost alarming the way Kaito could talk people into doing what he wanted despite all reason—like how he had managed to convince Shinichi to accompany him to a party hosted by the city's magicians' club. It was almost like magic…

.

"This can't be a good idea," Shinichi muttered, tugging uncomfortably at the collar of the fancy, white dress shirt Kaito had forced him into for the occasion, its hem embroidered with golden feathers.

"You always say that," Kaito retorted, waving a hand dismissively. "We'd never go anywhere if we listened to you."

"Sometimes I wonder if people would be safer if I didn't."

"Oh please, it's not like you can _make _someone commit murder. You just have the bad luck of always being in the right place at the wrong time. And this isn't going to be like that, I promise. We're going to have fun."

Fun wasn't exactly how Shinichi would have described it, but it was certainly…unusual. He'd met his share of magicians in his time, but he'd never seen so many of them gathered in one place—perhaps thirty or so give or take. Kaito had called it a magicians' club gathering, but if the detective had been asked to give the event a name, he would have called it Chaos.

The moment they stepped through the doors of the restaurant, their senses were assaulted by movement, lights, and color. Shinichi tensed and would have stepped back but Kaito's hand closed around his own and gave it an encouraging squeeze before pulling him forward.

Refreshments had been arranged on two long tables at the far end of the large room and Kaito directed him towards it, returning greetings with his usual smile and introducing different magicians to Shinichi as he went.

"That kid in the corner by the vases is pretty new here, does coin tricks like a master but nothing else. He's a hobbyist I think, does it for fun and no plans to go pro. Pity that, I bet he'd be great at parties, or maybe he should be performing at a casino. The girl he's talking to goes by the name Miseyo, illusion specialist—very talented and just debuting on the professional stage this winter. And see that skinny man in the gray by the wine? He specializes in escapes—not as good as me, of course, but then he does get a lot less practice."

Shinichi snorted. "That's because sane people don't want that kind of practice."

"Sanity is overrated," Kaito retorted airily. "Ah, one of my favorite colleagues! Meet Moe."

Shinichi looked around and was about to ask what Kaito was talking about when he looked down. A white dove sat on the edge of the table peering up at them, its head cocked ever so slightly to one side. When it noticed Shinichi staring at it, it cooed and fluffed out its feathers.

"Moe?"

Kaito nodded solemnly, "Yes—Moe. And these are Ini, Mini, and Miny."

With each name, another dove landed upon the table to join the staring contest.

"Are these your doves?"

"Of course not. My doves look totally different. Can't you tell?"

"…"

"Anyway, these are Ina's doves. That's her over by the window with Number 24."

"Number 24."

"The one perched on her head. I think the one on her shoulder is Number 13. I know what you're thinking, but seriously, try naming sixty odd doves and see how creative you still feel by number sixty."

"Why did I agree to come with you?"

"Aww, don't be like that. Come on, let's get something to eat. Good food prepares people for everything!"

The food really did turn out to be quite excellent. And really, once he got over the initial chaos, Shinichi found himself—somewhat to his surprise—enjoying himself. There wasn't any of the formality that often accompanied the parties his parents used to drag him to and everyone seemed to be bursting at the seams with stories which they told with much animated vigor as though each was trying to out perform the others. And while he listened, Shinichi would put his observation skills to the test, explaining his deductions to Kaito who would reply with details on the background and habits of each speaker. The exercise was made particularly interesting due to the nature of the party's attendants. Magic, after all, was really an art of deception. And, well, it was _nice_ how Kaito actually paid attention to—and moreover, was actually _interested _in—hearing his deductions. Outside of the police, other detectives, and crazy fans, most of Shinichi's acquaintances just got tired or impatient after awhile.

As evening drew on into real nightfall, the tables and chairs were pushed to either side of the room. It seemed that two or three of the magicians present had been singers at some point in their careers and now they took up positions upon the stage at the far end of the restaurant, setting up the karaoke and sounding far more professional than usual. Shinichi rather thought it prevented a lot of other people from even attempting a song, choosing instead to migrate onto the dance floor. One thing was for sure. There was no way Kaito could ever get him up onto the karaoke stage.

"You can pester me all you want but it's not going to happen. I can't sing. It would be like torture."

"You can't be _that _bad."

"Yes, I can."

After a few more minutes of unsuccessful wheedling, Kaito sighed loudly and decided to join the crowd on the dance floor.

Somehow, Shinichi wasn't surprised to discover that Kaito was a good dancer. The other party members had cleared the floor around him and his current partner, most people pausing in whatever they had been doing to watch. And though Kaito's gaze didn't flicker to them, Shinichi could tell he was quite aware that he had an audience. If you had been watching him the entire time, you could tell that once eyes had begun to focus on him, he had begun tailoring his movements, posing a little and preening under the attention.

Shinichi snorted under his breath as Kaito dipped his partner and angled them so the chandelier lights cascaded around them in just the right way to gleam on brown and blonde hair before being caught in the shimmering folds of his partner's deep crimson dress. Soon the song came to an end and Kaito stepped back into a short bow. The woman laughed and said something, peering through her lashes at the other magician. Kaito responded with a laugh and a smile. Shinichi frowned, wishing he could hear what they were saying—then he wondered why it bothered him so much that he didn't know. Forcing himself to look away, he busied himself with his drink, defiantly not looking up until a hand on his shoulder startled him out of his intense contemplation of the clear liquid in his glass.

"That took you long enough. I thought you were going to stay over there for the rest of the night." He paused then added in a somewhat disgruntled voice, "Who was that woman anyway?"

"Newer member, still an amateur magician but one hell of a good dancer." Kaito leaned over his shoulder and ducked his head to get a better look at the detective's face. "Jealous?"

"Of course not," Shinichi scoffed, looking away to try and hide the tint of red across his cheeks. So what if maybe he had been just a little envious? He'd just been so used to being the focus of all Kaito's attention. It wasn't like he _liked _having the thief's attention to himself.

Kaito grinned that annoying, sharp, KID grin of his that said he knew way too much that you didn't want him to. "If you want to join me, I'll be more than happy to teach you."

"I know how to dance," Shinichi snapped, "and no thank you."

This only served to make Kaito chuckle. He deftly slipped the cup from Shinichi's hands and stole a sip before returning it to him. "One moment."

Then he was gone again and Shinichi glanced up instinctively to search for him only to discover that Kaito had vaulted onto the stage and appropriated one of the microphones. He waved for someone to change a song before calling out cheerfully, "Hey, Shin-chan! This song's for you."

Everyone turned to look at Shinichi as Kaito's smooth voice launched into the first stanzas of a popular love song Shinichi was pretty sure he'd heard Ran playing in her car and the detective prayed that the ground would open up and swallow him. Blushing furiously, he fought the urge to find a dark corner and hide in it. Though on the other hand, nobody else in to room seemed particularly surprised. Some people looked disappointed but most of them just grinned at the pair.

"Did you know?" Shinichi demanded, glaring at one of the magicians who had shared their dinner table. He wasn't entirely sure he even knew himself what he meant with the question, but it didn't seem to matter. The other magician just shrugged.

"This is Kuroba we're talking about. You learn not to be surprised where he's concerned."

So even other magicians thought Kaito was a little strange. Great.

Though it was just a very tiny, little bit flattering.

All of a sudden, Ran's words from the museum came back to him in a rush—"_Sonoko would be so jealous_." And Shinichi's brain ground to a shocked halt. It was still frozen as the song came to a close and Kaito leapt off the stage to loud applause and disappointment that he wasn't going to sing another.

"It's getting late," Kaito sighed, slinging an arm back around Shinichi's shoulders and glancing wistfully at his watch as though he could turn back the hands by will alone. "I guess we'd better head home so you aren't too tired at work tomorrow?"

Numbly, the detective nodded and allowed himself to be steered out of the restaurant, waving goodbye out of reflex whenever they were spoken to. It was probably a good thing Kaito was driving because Shinichi's head was still whirling with what Ran had said accompanied by memories of all of Sonoko's fanatical interest in the Moonlight Magician. This just…couldn't be happening!

Shinichi only came back to himself when they were standing on his doorstep and he felt slender fingers under his chin. Kaito tilted his head so he had to look at him and gave him a slightly baffled but nonetheless amused smile.

"I realize you haven't heard a single word I've said since we left the party, but I assume you've got a good reason. Just please remember to tune back in tomorrow when I come back? I don't really like to be ignored."

And with that, Kaito handed him a single red rose and leaned in to brush a kiss across his lips before vanishing into the night as he so often did, leaving Shinichi to stew in the horrifying thought that he and Sonoko had anything in common.

.

…The problem, he supposed, was that while Kaito was already rather fearless, as KID, he was shameless as well. And the line between magician and thief was so thin that oftentimes, it might as well not have existed at all. Because when Kaito had taken up KID's mantle, he had really been picking up another piece of himself and his history. And even though Shinichi wouldn't find out about Kuroba Toichi until later, he could sense that somehow, KID wasn't just another one of the personas Kaito so easily donned and shed.

Perhaps because of this, irritating and embarrassing though Kaito could be, the detective did also come to appreciate some of those moments—though usually only in retrospect. Because it showed in some ways just how much Kaito trusted him, that he took no pains to keep his different identities separate when he was around him. That, at least, was something Shinichi could understand because around Kaito, he too never felt the need to keep secrets. It was a fact he'd long come to value from his time as Edogawa Conan.

Shinichi would always remember the moment he finally just gave in. He would never forget those fireworks…

.

Shinichi had always thought that dates were things that both participants had to agree upon or at least know were happening. But then again, Kaito excelled at being the exception to the rule. And by the time they actually got around to going out on a date that Shinichi had known was a date before they'd gone, they had been theoretically "seeing" one another for almost half a year.

Upon reflection, he suspected that Kaito had done it that way on purpose, planned out every move they had made up until that point, because the timing was just too coincidentally perfect—if you were a romantic.

Shinichi had arrived in Ekoda early on New Year's Eve with his stomach a jumble of anxiety. From the outside, Kaito's house looked surprisingly normal. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but somehow, he supposed he'd thought it would stand out more, somehow exhibit the eccentricities of its crazier occupant. But there were no startling colors, no dramatic displays or joking decorations. Though upon closer inspection, the detective did find several hidden cameras, a few motion sensors, and maybe a listening device or two. It was definitely the house of someone who did not want to take chances, someone who knew that people could be looking for him when he did not want to be found.

Shinichi was still trying to figure out how he felt about this when he made his way up to the front steps and raised his hand to knock only to have the door flung open before his hand could make contact. He barely had time to register Kaito's beaming face before he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, released, then hauled across the threshold so the magician could shut the door behind him.

"Shin-chan, you're _early_! You should have called me. I could have gone to pick you up at the train station."

"It wasn't necessary," Shinichi replied, shrugging, inwardly pleased by the surprised delight he could sense bubbling just below the surface of Kaito's seeming nonchalance. It wasn't easy to surprise Kuroba Kaito, but Shinichi seemed to have a better track record than most. Still, the better he got to know the magician and vice versa, the more it became something he had to work at.

Kaito's mother greeted him with a warm smile and they chatted for a few minutes while Kaito banged about his room doing God knew what. When the sound of a mini explosion reached their ears, however, Shinichi excused himself and wandered up the stairs to look for him.

"Hey, you all right?" he asked, poking his head through the open door of the only lighted room along the short corridor.

Kaito sat on the floor amidst a mess of miscellaneous objects Shinichi wasn't sure he wanted to know the uses of as well as several gadgets he was all too familiar with from KID heists. The magician shook his head as if to clear it and flashed him a quick grin before continuing his mad scramble through his supplies. "No worries, I know what I'm doing—well, mostly anyway. I'll be ready to leave in just a few more minutes."

"We still have to eat dinner you know."

"I know, but if I prepare now, I won't have to come back up later."

"Do I want to know why you look like you're preparing for a heist?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes and went to sit down at the magician's desk, picking his way through the chaos and surveying the room with barely restrained curiosity. Everything in the room shouted of the energetic, prankster magician who occupied it from the bottles of dye and magic books to the posters that papered the walls. Tearing his eyes from the doves he could see nesting on top of the bookshelves, the detective's attention was caught by a painting upon the far wall. It depicted a man dressed in a white suit that vaguely reminded him of Kaito's KID regalia minus the cape and monocle. He looked to be older than Kaito by a good many years and sported a thin mustache, but his indigo eyes gleamed with the same playful mischief he saw in Kaito's every day.

"My father," Kaito said, noticing the direction of his gaze. "Kuroba Toichi—I mentioned him during that incident at the Magic Lovers' Club. He was the best magician of all time."

_Was_.

Shinichi nodded and let his gaze move on to other things. Kaito had sounded nothing but cheerful, but the detective wasn't fooled. There was still a lot of pain there, a hint of darkness that he didn't want to pry into at the moment. If Kaito wanted to tell him about it, he would.

Finally, Kaito shunted the last of his boxes under his bed and stood up.

Shinichi followed suit, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "So you ready?"

"Yup. I can smell the food already. Aoko persuaded her father to take some time off so dear Inspector Nakamouri will be gone for the New Year's festivities and Hakuba's still in England. I'd say we're all set."

Kaito fidgeted constantly in his chair during dinner, brimming with excited energy, but made a visible effort to limit the number of his tricks so Shinichi and his mother could talk, every now and then throwing in his two cents. Though food still occasionally vanished or reappeared without warning and various items of silverware found themselves tossed about rather more than necessary before being put to their proper uses, it was all in all a surprisingly peaceful affair. And afterwards, with a promise to be careful and not to be back _too_ late, they headed out.

People celebrating the approach of the New Year flooded the city streets, filling it with shouts and laughter. They wandered about Ekoda, taking a meandering route towards the plaza before the clock tower while Kaito pointed out different landmarks and reminisced about old KID heists from back before Shinichi had known him. If he'd thought current KID heists were crazy, it sounded as though early KID heists had been worse and sometimes downright silly. But they certainly made good retelling material and, whenever he could, Shinichi would bring up incidents he'd encountered that they reminded him of—though Kaito still did most of the storytelling. Murders didn't seem like appropriate conversation material for New Year's Eve.

Five minutes before the fireworks were due to start found the pair arriving at one of Kaito's favorite kinds of places, the rooftop of a tall, multi-floored apartment building.

"Somehow, I don't think we're supposed to be here," Shinichi observed, surveying the deserted roof with equal parts curiosity and trepidation.

"No one said we weren't allowed," Kaito replied cheerfully, leaning against the railing and peering towards the clock tower in the distance.

Shinichi cleared his throat and pointed at the sign dangling from one hook not too far from their position. Somewhat battered though it was, the words "danger" and "keep away" were still more or less distinguishable. The magician spared the sign a glance and shrugged.

"It looks old. We'll be careful. And if anyone asks, we never saw it. Now come over here and pick a spot. I don't want you to miss the show."

Shinichi frowned slightly at the gleam in Kaito's eyes, wondering why he seemed so keen on making sure they had an unobstructed view of the fireworks. Correction—that _Shinichi _had an unobstructed view of the fireworks, he'd said "you" not "we".

"You're over thinking things again," Kaito huffed, reaching out a hand to pull him to the railing beside him.

"I don't think it's even possible to over think anything where you're concerned."

"Eh, simple is boring anyway. Oh good, right on time!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the clock tower struck twelve. And as the first sonorous boom faded and melded into the second, it was joined by the whistle and bang of fireworks exploding in showers of crimson and gold across the night sky. Only there was something different about some of these explosions.

Shinichi blinked up at the pattern left by the fireworks, caught by its unusual shapes and letters before his mind decoded it and he dropped his gaze again in embarrassment.

"Do you have to go so overboard with everything?" he muttered, mortified by the thought of anyone in the vast number of people watching the fireworks that night noticing the message KID had deigned to put up in lights.

"I just want to make sure you know I'm perfectly serious," Kaito protested, though the effect was rather spoiled by his mad grin, utterly pleased by the spectacular effects of the fireworks. Sneaking in to fiddle with the New Year's fireworks show preparations hadn't been easy. "Because, you know, some people say it's hard to tell with me sometimes."

"I never doubted it," Shinichi muttered—not for more than a moment anyway. Even more quietly, he added a mumbled, "But thanks anyway."

For making sure he knew. He'd gotten pretty good at reading Kaito, but it could still be difficult sometimes to tell when he was acting and when he wasn't, he slipped so easily and often from one into the other. It didn't seem to be something Kaito could really control and he knew it and compensated for the possible doubt on the parts of people around him by being blatant, persistent, and shameless in his displays of affection. Shinichi couldn't really say he appreciated it, but all the same, it was…thoughtful…sort of. And sometimes, like now—after he'd gotten over the embarrassment, it made him feel just a little lightheaded and fluttery in an oddly pleasant kind of way.

It wasn't everyday someone told him he loved him, and really, while he wasn't really sure he knew what love was or felt like, he had to admit privately that he liked the magician a lot, thief or not. It could definitely work and he was willing to—had already been—giving it a chance.

Vaguely, Shinichi became aware of the tension in the body next to him, very slight but still detectable. Feeling rather self conscious, he steeled himself and turned to lean up and press his lips to Kaito's. Instantly, the magician relaxed and he felt him smile as he wrapped his arms around him to pull him closer and deepen the kiss.

At least he knew that whatever lay ahead of them, they would have each other.

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, X With the Coming of Night) **

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**Author's Notes**: There's chapter two! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ^_^ Hopefully, it was humorous…? The next chapter is going to be more serious again.


	3. X With the Coming of Night

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 3 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

**AN:** Okay, seriously, to the person who left that extremely rude review about the pairing, there is a _reason _I included the pairing in the summary. If you have such a huge problem with gay couples, you shouldn't have read this in the first place. We are all entitled to our own opinions. _However_, there is also such a thing as common courtesy which we all owe one another as human beings.

Eh hem, now that that's off my chest, thank you to everyone else and on with the story.

.

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**X**

**With the Coming of Night**

And then everything had gone wrong. The Organization had finally gotten tired of the little injuries here and there that it had suffered at the hands of the up and coming generation of promising detectives and decided to do something about it. And three high school detectives in particular were at the top of their list. Once everything had been set up and their decisions made, they wasted no time in making their move…

.

In his time chasing after Kaitou KID, high school detective Hakuba Saguru had been subjected to many strange and unexpected things. Aside from the members of the Kaitou KID Taskforce and perhaps the classmates of teenage magician Kuroba Kaito, he had more experience than anyone when it came to sudden wardrobe changes, incapacitating traps, knockout gas, and a whole host of other random and often bizarrely complicated tricks and stunts. However, being assaulted and captured by what he had thought were two fellow law enforcement officers was a first.

"Damn, this is bad."

Hakuba snorted. "Obviously."

Green eyes glared through the darkness in his general direction but the situation was too dire for Heiji to feel much like bickering. Besides, even though he could only just make out the other's form in the lightless cell, he could hear the pain in his voice. "How's your shoulder?"

"…I think it's stopped bleeding at least."

"That's good I guess."

"…And you?"

Heiji shifted a bit where he sat leaning against the cold wall and grimaced. "I'll be fine, couple bruises probably but nothing too serious. I'm more worried about Kudou. He seems banged up pretty bad."

"I wonder what these people want."

"If I had to guess, I'd say they want us out of the way—or perhaps they want information seeing as we're not dead yet even though they've had ample time and opportunity. We _are_ three of the most famous up-and-coming detectives in Japan."

"But why now?" Hakuba mused, frowning into the darkness.

Heiji drew in a deep breath and let it out in a slow, resigned sigh. In truth, Shinichi and he had both been expecting something to happen sooner or later with how much they had been poking around Black Organization business. Though why Hakuba was here, he really had no idea, unless… "Have you ever heard of something called the Black Organization?"

"The Black Organization?"

"Yeah, they're a criminal syndicate with a lot of fingers in a lot of different industries and organizations including the police. Kudou and I have been trying to track them down for almost two years now but they're extremely good at covering their tracks. Higher ranking agents all have these different codenames and they tend to dress all in black."

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone like what you've described." Hakuba hesitated then continued, "Although, I have been working on a particularly strange case lately."

"Strange? What do you mean?"

"Well, there was a sniper at the last KID heist."

"What?"

"I was trying to investigate the shooting, but all I found were dead ends and more questions. It seems that there might even have been snipers after him almost since the start of his reappearance on the public stage, but they were mostly hushed up and a lot of inquiries were quickly dropped."

It was Heiji's turn to frown. "It sounds like them all right, but why would they be after KID?"

Further debate was interrupted by a groan of pain from the general direction of their prison's third occupant.

"Oi, Kudou, you're finally awake." Heiji shifted around carefully and reached out to help his friend sit up. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a truck," Shinichi muttered, grimacing as several rather painful bruises made themselves known. "So they got you too?"

"Yeah, and Hakuba too. Just isn't our day, is it? I don't suppose you have a phone or something? They took ours."

Carefully, Shinichi did a quick inventory of his usual gadgets and gizmos. His watch was gone, but he still had the miniature phone built into his keychain. But who could he call? He didn't know who in the police could be trusted and Heiji was sitting in the cell with him. That left…

Heiji shifted restlessly as Shinichi dialed a number and pressed the device to his ear.

"Hey, it's me."

"What a surprise, Shin-chan! I'm usually the one who calls you."

Shinichi snorted. "Sorry, but…we don't have time to chat right now. _They've_ got us—me, Hakuba, and Hattori."

Silence then with much more seriousness, "Where are you?"

"They've put us in some type of cell—one door, no windows. I think…I heard running water nearby before they brought me inside, lots of it, maybe a waterfall or some kind of large scale water fountain."

Hakuba cleared his throat. "I was captured on my way home from the Ekoda Police Station. Wherever we are now, it's around a twenty minute drive from there."

Shinichi nodded and repeated this information to the person on the other end of the phone before glancing at Heiji.

The Osaka detective thought for a moment then said slowly, "I've been checking out the walls and I think we might be underground, so probably basement levels."

After this too was relayed, the person on the other end of the phone muttered something incoherent under his breath that might have been a curse then said more clearly, "All right, I'll be right there. Just please try not to do anything stupid before I arrive."

Shinichi would have snorted at that but there was no longer anyone on the other end to hear. And besides, he could hear how worried he was. With unsteady hands, he slowly slipped the tiny phone Professor Agasa had made for him into his pocket and sank back against the cool wall.

"Who did you call?" Heiji asked finally, breaking the tense silence.

Shinichi let out his breath in a long, slow sigh. "Someone…we can trust…"

Damn, he felt so tired and his head hurt like hell.

"Are you sure whoever it is can find us?"

A hoarse laugh that cut off abruptly as Shinichi's head throbbed, "He's very good at finding things."

And stealing them away.

Funny how the thought, which once upon a time might have irritated him, was now comforting.

They didn't know how long they waited in the darkness—well actually, that wasn't true. Shinichi was pretty sure Hakuba knew, but neither he nor Heiji asked and so he didn't offer. None of them really wanted to know.

Occasionally, footsteps could be heard beyond the thick, metal door of their chamber but never any voices. After what felt like an eternity, a new sound suddenly intruded upon the tense silence. And a moment later, there was the soft swish of a door opening and shutting on well oiled hinges, eased along its path by experienced and careful fingers.

"My, my, you detectives _are_ good at getting into trouble, aren't you? Even better than me, I begin to think."

Hakuba's head snapped around to stare in the direction of that all too familiar, mocking tone. "KID? What are _you_ doing here?"

The thief sniffed. "Saving you, obviously."

Moments later, a light switched on to reveal a familiar thief clad all in white. Indigo eyes took in their bedraggled appearances, darkening in concern at the blood that clung to Hakuba's and Shinichi's clothes.

"My arm," Hakuba said in answer to his questioning look. "It hurts like hell but I don't think it's broken."

KID nodded then produced a roll of bandaging from…somewhere and tossed it to Heiji. "Can you help him bind the wound? We'll need to clean and redo it later, but for now, it would be best to patch it so it at least won't get in the way."

"Uh, sure."

KID nodded then set the miniature lantern he still held upon the floor before making a beeline for Shinichi. Dropping to his knees beside the detective, he ran his gloved fingers gently along the back of his head. Shinichi winced but didn't try to pull away.

"It doesn't seem too bad," Kaito murmured to him in relief, "though you're going to have a nasty bump. You sounded terrible over the phone."

"Bit dizzy," Shinichi admitted, peering at him through the dim light. "So where are we?"

"Later. First, we've got to get out of here."

Hakuba's eyes never left the thief as he stood. There was none of his usual mischief or wild energy in KID today, only a quiet seriousness that seemed to make him blend into the darkness. It was rather disorienting to say the least and made him feel just a touch uneasy.

"You need to change into these," the thief announced, depositing a sack in front of the blond detective and another in front of his dark-skinned companion. "It took awhile but I found some guards you two could pass for without too much work."

"What about Kudou?"

"He'll be leaving with me so he won't need a costume." Kaito hadn't thought Shinichi sounded like he could pull off a convincing performance at the moment and seeing him in person hadn't changed his mind.

It was perhaps a mark of the direness of their situation—or the bizarreness—that no one protested. KID helped Hakuba slip into his new, black overcoat and gestured for him to hold still while he rearranged the blond hair and deftly applied makeup to his face. When he finished, he took the cap Hakuba still held and pulled it low over the detective's face, tilting it at an angle before moving on to Heiji.

"Oi, Hakuba, your guy's called Jackson Leone but people call him Gray. He scowls a lot—just like you really—and has a habit of looking at his feet while he walks. Pretty low on the food chain around here, odd job man, never takes another errand before one's finished—should be to your advantage if anyone tries to stop you."

"And you," he said, nodding towards Heiji, "are brisk and always in a hurry with a temper to match. Just glare at anyone who talks to you. Though hopefully, as long as you stay on route, no one will. Our destination is the second warehouse across the street. Don't run, don't sneak, just walk like you belong and don't look too hard at anyone. Hell, don't even _think_ too hard about anything. Now, I'm going to give you each a set of instructions on how to get there."

After he had given out all the information he considered necessary, KID let Hakuba out first then shut the door, waited for a good ten minutes or so, and then directed Heiji down the opposite end of the corridor.

"You're not going to change?" Shinichi asked somewhat skeptically as the door shut behind the Osaka detective.

Kaito snapped his fingers and when the smoke had cleared, his white clothes had been replaced with an identical replica in black. "This will do."

Shinichi resisted the urge to ask if he was sure, opting instead to scowl and roll his eyes when Kaito picked him up, cradling him against his chest.

"What?" Kaito asked innocently.

"I can walk, you know."

"Sure you can, but it'll be quicker this way. We're going to have to move pretty fast since we're not in disguise. They don't know I'm helping you yet so it shouldn't be difficult. Of course, after tonight… Anyway, just be quiet and we'll be out of here in no time."

Some of his usual humor had crept back into his voice and Shinichi sighed with mixed feelings of exasperation and relief. He'd been getting a bit worried.

"Thanks, by the way."

"Now, now, no need for that. I couldn't well let them take my detectives away from me, could I? I always take care of the people who make my heists so interesting."

No one got hurt after all; that was the rule.

His voice might have had some laughter in it, but Shinichi thought that Kaito's hold on him was rather tighter than it had to be all the same.

.

…Afterwards, Shinichi would often wonder if they had been scared. Surely they had been, had felt at least a trace of dread as they made their way through the eerily silent halls to seek the safety of the cold night outside. But he had gotten used to working in shadows during his years as Conan, and Kaito had never worked in the open. And if the other two detectives had been nervous or anxious, they didn't show it.

They couldn't afford to.

And so everything had proceeded with cold, undisputed efficiency, the kind of efficiency one would expect from three renowned, genius detectives and a master thief who had made an open exhibition out of every one of his heists and still never been caught…

.

The warehouse in question looked as though it hadn't been used in years. Empty boxes stood piled in haphazard heaps against one wall and the floor could hardly be seen beneath the dust and dead leaves. Kaito and Shinichi arrived through a set of broken planks in the side wall and the magician reluctantly let him go, moving to pull himself up to one of the high windows and from there to a perch amidst the rafters. The height seemed to make him feel more comfortable.

"We're still within the city limits and getting out isn't going to be easy," Hakuba observed, sitting down on a box only to stand again quickly as it threatened to fold in upon itself.

Especially when two of them were already injured. But there was no question in their minds that they had to leave if they didn't want to be caught again or endanger the people around them. Shinichi knew they'd only been lucky this time that it appeared the Black Organization hadn't quite agreed upon what to do with them. By all rights, he would have expected them all to be dead, and he cursed himself for being so careless. He'd been getting too comfortable with the routine they had, and hadn't expected an attack to come from within the police force itself. He only hoped that Inspector Megure, Takagi, Satou, and the others would be all right.

And after tonight, they would know that KID was working with them and not by himself, so he wouldn't be able to catch them by surprise again.

Hakuba directed his stare up at the thief still sitting amidst the rafters, raising an eyebrow. "But I'm guessing you can get around and ascertain the situation so we can come up with a way to smuggle ourselves out of Tokyo."

KID sighed and stood up. "I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we? All right, I'll be back in around an hour. I have a few arrangements to make then we can leave. You three had probably best stay put."

"Like we have anywhere to go."

After he'd gone, Heiji turned to Shinichi with a look of incredulity. "You have _KID's_ phone number? How? _Why_?"

Shinichi looked away a little uncomfortably. "We've been working together on the Black Organization case ever since I got back to normal."

"What? Why didn't you tell me? Do you even know for sure that we can trust him? I mean, I'm not saying he's not a good guy and he did just pull us out of a tight spot, but he _is_ still a thief."

"I trust him," Shinichi said seriously. "And he's never let me down, even before we teamed up. We've both saved one another's lives more than a few times. If I learned anything from Conan, it's that you can't really judge someone without knowing the whole story."

And even then, he had to wonder sometimes if any of them had the right to judge at all.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend or anything," Heiji said, raising his hands defensively. "I was just wondering. KID hasn't always been the epitome of reliability."

"Do you know who he is?" Hakuba's question silenced all of them and the two other detectives waited with baited breath for his answer.

Shinichi met the Britt's intense, brown gaze and held it for several moments before looking away and letting out a long, deep sigh. "Yeah."

"It's Kuroba, isn't it?"

It wasn't really a question and Shinichi chose not to answer, just closed his eyes and leaned back against the crates piled behind him. He was pretty sure they would know by the time this night was over, but it still wasn't his place to tell. He just hoped Kaito wasn't too upset at having that choice taken away from him so abruptly by the workings of fate.

When Kaito returned, he was no longer wearing his KID outfit.

Hakuba narrowed his eyes when he slipped through one of the windows and dropped soundlessly to the floor. "So I was right all along."

The magician rolled his eyes. "Yes, Tantei-san, you were right. Do you want me to congratulate you?"

Definitely unhappy, Shinichi thought, studying his blank, emotionless face, or perhaps unease was a better description. It must have been unsettling to say the least as an internationally wanted criminal to suddenly find himself more or less forced to drop at least one of his masks around not one but three detectives, especially now that the initial urgency had passed. But if they were going to have to work together for heaven only knew how long, anonymity wasn't really a feasible option. Kaito had simply chosen to clear the air sooner rather than later, give himself some more control over the circumstances.

"How come I feel like I'm the only one here who doesn't know something?" Heiji sighed, disgruntled.

Kaito turned to him and donned a grin, sweeping him a deep, perhaps slightly mocking bow. "Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire and number one prankster of Ekoda High at your service, also occasionally known as Kaitou KID."

And so once again the performance began.

Shinichi just shook his head, letting Kaito help him to his feet while he explained about a nearby hideout of his and the current confusion in the city's police stations. Having Shinichi near him seemed to make Kaito feel better. Leaning on him for support, Shinichi could feel a bit of the tension easing.

Three detectives and a thief.

Well, one thing was for sure. Life was about to get very…interesting.

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, IX The Long Road Forward) **

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AN:


	4. IX The Long Road Forward

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 4 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

.

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**IX**

**The Long Road Forward**

Being on the run while working at the same time to try and bring down the Black Organization could have been a miserable experience except that, for the most part, Kuroba Kaito didn't _do_ miserable. Of course, seeing as he had a lot of his fun at the expense of others, perhaps that wasn't such a good thing. And certainly, in the beginning, they had had more than a few awkward moments, all of which stood out vividly in Shinichi's memory and most of which he still didn't know how he felt about—aside from utterly embarrassed anyway, but he'd started to get used to that. It was just one of the many things you had to put up with if you were dating Kaitou KID…

.

"I really don't see any reason to agree to this."

Kaito met Hakuba's glare with a razor-edged, KID grin. "That's too bad because you don't have a choice if you want the assistance of my disguise expertise."

Brown eyes narrowed, though there was a hint of desperation in them now. "But I _know _you can disguise us as three different _men _just as easily."

The magician thief just shrugged. "Of course I can, but what fun would that be? I still haven't had a chance to laugh tonight."

"You should just give up now," Shinichi advised with a resigned sigh, getting up off the chair he'd been sitting in and heading for the tiny apartment's single other room, "before he decides to make things worse for you. Kaito, I assume you're going to come help me."

"Of course!"

Heiji watched with his mouth slightly ajar as the thief bounced into the next room after his "favorite detective" and shut the door with a click behind them.

"Somehow, I feel like we're missing something here."

"…"

Frowning in thought, Heiji replayed the past couple hours in his head. There was definitely something different about the way Kudou and KID—Kuroba, he corrected himself—interacted. Like there was a lot of familiarity there only different from what KID and Hakuba shared. It seemed almost like—like—only he couldn't quite finish the thought because it sent his mind reeling in shock, "…You don't think they're…?"

The blond head jerked around to stare at him in scandalized horror. "Please tell me you don't mean what I think you mean."

"Think about it though," he insisted. "The way they look at each other, how close they were standing, how Kuroba keeps finding excuses to get near him and Kudou doesn't say a word. It would all make perfect sense if they were—you know, _together_."

"Yes, but it's the "together" part that I'm having trouble making sense of."

"Well, they were always more fascinated by each other than I thought was normal, even when Kudou was still Conan."

Hakuba frowned. "Conan, Kudou mentioned him before as well. But what does the brat have to do with all of this? What do you mean _when he was Conan_?"

"Oh, I forgot you didn't know." Heiji laughed sheepishly. "You see, a while back, Kudou ran into these two guys called Gin and Vodka from the Black Organization and they tried to kill him with this poison…"

Hakuba was still slightly dazed from digesting this new, impossible story of poison that shrank teenage detectives into six-year-old brats when Kaito slipped back into the room and grinned at them. "Your turn."

In silence, the two accepted the bundle of props Kaito held out to them. Heiji headed into the bathroom and shut the door while Kaito nodded at Hakuba and disappeared back into the other room. Thirty minutes and a few touch-ups from Kaito later and three young women exited the apartment building, chatting quietly as they made their way towards the shopping districts. Kaito had said he would meet them there at the Sunflower Café, but first he had to finish making arrangements for a car.

"You're not going to steal it," Hakuba had said flatly.

"Of course not," Kaito scoffed. "It would create too many complications."

It wasn't going to be entirely legal either, but Kaito would rather cover their tracks as best he could—do what was in his power to keep them all safe. And if that involved a few falsifications here and there, he wasn't going to complain.

At least one good thing was coming out of this whole escapade, Shinichi thought, warming his hands on the giant mug of coffee the waiter had set before him minutes ago. The café had really excellent coffee.

"That waiter keeps looking at me," Heiji grumbled, fidgeting nervously in his chair.

Shinichi snickered. That was the magic of KID; their disguises were all so damned _convincing, _and KID, of course, considered himself an artist. "Just don't say anything stupid if he comes over here."

"But I'm not interested in guys."

"Neither is he."

"And I've got a girlfriend."

"He doesn't know that. And you're letting your voice slip again."

Hakuba hid a grimace behind his own glass of hot tea. "Next time, I would like to request to be an average-looking, middle-aged woman rather than a pretty-looking, young one."

"Next time?" Heiji squeaked. "What makes you think there's going to be a next time?"

"We're going to be living with KID. You tell me why I think there's going to be a next time."

Heiji frowned at this reminder though he was really more curious than anything, staring into the bubbly depths of his soda. "So this Kuroba guy, what's he like?"

For a long moment, neither of his companions said anything. Kaito was a lot of things, too many things both natural and fabricated. Shinichi wasn't even sure where to begin.

"I guess you could say he's a lot like KID," he said at last, "but he's also a bit different."

The bells above the door jingled. More people were coming into the café as the sky gradually brightened outside. No wonder Shinichi was so tired. None of them had slept at all the entire night.

A black-haired young man with a serious, sun-tanned face sat down at the table next to them, skimming his menu with only moderate interest. Eventually, the waiter brought him a mug of something and he sat back, glancing around the café while he fiddled with the porcelain handle. Brown eyes landed on Hakuba then the newspaper lying on the table beside his hand and brightened with sudden interest.

"Hey," he said, turning his chair around so he could lean towards them and point at the newspaper, "are you still reading that?"

"It's yesterday's edition," Hakuba replied uncertainly, his voice sounding a bit strained at its unnatural pitch.

The newcomer furrowed his brow and looked at him in concern. "You okay?"

"Fine, thank you."

"Well, if you're sure… And I don't mind if it's old. Didn't have much of a chance to read the papers yesterday anyway. Do you mind?"

Shinichi sighed, reaching out to stop Hakuba from passing the newspapers over. "Kaito, stop pretending to be somebody else so we can get going."

For a moment, the newcomer blinked at them as though utterly confused. Then his face spit into an all too familiar grin and he leaned over to drag Shinichi into a bear hug.

"Aww, isn't he wonderful?" he crowed in his own voice, directing his comment at their two companions. "Shin-chan always knows it's me!"

"Anyways," he continued, all business once more, "our ride will be here in five minutes. I'm going to go greet it and get everything ready then you guys come to the parking lot to find me. Here's who you are," he slipped them each an ID card, "so don't forget your name and put some thought into your background just in case. These are temporary so no need to overdo things."

Shinichi flipped over his ID, glanced at Kaito's, and groaned. "You've got to be kidding me."

Abruptly, Kaito was all smiles. "Not at all, my dear. It's just a pity that we weren't able to actually have a wedding!"

And he turned his head to kiss him before downing the rest of his hot chocolate and drifting happily out the door.

Shinichi buried his face in his hands until the burning went away then glared at his two companions through his fingers. "Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Heiji blinked, opened his mouth, shut it again, and finally said, "We're just a bit, uh, surprised."

He knew it! He just hadn't quite believed it until five seconds ago. To be fair, he wouldn't have put it past KID to act the way he'd been acting just to throw Kudou off balance. So he couldn't be blamed for not accepting it as fact earlier. But that look on Kuroba's face when he looked at the other detective, just for a moment before his mask had slid back into place… Heiji was a lot of things, but he wasn't a fool, and he also wasn't nearly as dense as his Beika counterpart.

"Hey, he was persistent," Shinichi said defensively, "and he kind of grows on you."

And he was smart and funny and talented in many more ways than one.

"But he's insane."

"So?"

Hakuba shook his head. "I don't know whether I should pity you or be impressed that you managed to so thoroughly capture KID's attention." He paused to consider his own words then added, "Or perhaps it should be both."

"Both," Heiji muttered dryly, "definitely both."

Leaving the city proved simple if nerve-wracking. The only tense moment came when they reached one of the outbound roads and found cars queuing up. There were two police vehicles parked one on either side of the road and the officers were stopping each car to talk with its occupants before letting them continue on their way.

Kaito glanced at his watch, his hands resting lightly upon the steering wheel. Shinichi sat beside him in the passenger seat pretending to sleep and Hakuba and Heiji were in the back. He could sense the tension as they pulled up to one of the police cars and he obligingly rolled down his window.

"Hey, officer," Kaito greeted amiably, instinctively changing his voice. "May I ask what's going on? There seems to be quite a line building here."

"Yes, I know," the officer sighed, running a hand through his tousled hair.

"Rough night?" Kaito asked sympathetically, glancing pointedly at the dark circles under the man's eyes.

"More like a chaotic morning. We received information on a group of possible kidnappers trying to lave the city."

"Kidna—," Heiji started only to cough when Hakuba jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow and pitch his voice higher, "kidnappers?"

The officer shot them a slightly confused look. "Yeah, we're told it happened last night, though that was all the details we got. In any case, I'm supposed to get a statement from each of you as to why you're heading out of town, what you were doing during your stay, that sort of thing."

"We were just in the city to pick up these two," Kaito explained, waving towards the two behind him. "They're old family friends and they just flew in for a business trip."

The officer nodded and glanced uncertainly at Shinichi. "And she's?"

Kaito could feel Shinichi tense. He was probably the most well known detective in the entire city, especially amongst the police force.

"My wife," Kaito said smoothly, reaching out to run a hand through the long tresses of Shinichi's wig, further obscuring the detective's features in the process. "She's been feeling a bit under the weather since this morning. I hope it's okay if we don't wake her?"

"Ah, of course, I understand." The officer smiled and turned his attention to Hakuba. "So what kind of business are you in?"

"I, uh, travel a lot," Hakuba hazarded. "I'm a reporter."

At least if anyone asked him about current events, he wouldn't have to make things up. He read the papers almost as religiously as Kuroba.

Struck by sudden inspiration, Heiji added, "And I'm her photographer."

"Really?" The second officer had come over to join the first and was looking at him with interest. "Can I see your camera?"

Damn.

"We put her equipment in the trunk," Kaito answered before Heiji could respond. "I could open it if you want to see it."

"All right."

Kaito shrugged and got out of the car. Its three occupants listened anxiously as he unlocked the trunk, half expecting the officer to call their bluff.

But a moment later and, "Well, I guess that's all in order. You can be on your way."

"Thank you, officers. Have a good day."

And they were speeding away, the city lights fading into morning behind them.

"How did you…?"

"Luckily, I had my assistant stock the back with some of my equipment. From certain angles, you can mistake some of it for camera equipment."

.

…In a way, Shinichi supposed that from that moment, they had all stepped into KID's world, a world in which they would stay at least in part for many months to follow. The world of deception and illusions, of danger and secrets and living by the day, always planning ahead but never knowing what the next day might bring.

At least they didn't have to worry about where they would stay. Kaito had hideouts scattered all around the world, so keeping on the move wouldn't present any problems.

But every time they went out, they had to put away who they were and assume a different name, a different appearance, and a different story. It was a game Kaito obviously found thrilling, but the rest of them just endured because sometimes, sacrifices had to be made for the sake of the greater good—the "greater good" in this case being their security. And like many things that people didn't like, none of it came easily…

.

"Man, you guys suck."

Hakuba rolled his eyes. "Well, _forgive_ us for not all being natural born liars."

"It's not _lying_," Kaito retorted, "it's _acting_. And don't change the subject. All right, Tantei-san, let's try something else. I want you to give me your best happy smile."

"Happy smile," Hakuba repeated flatly.

"Yeah, just think of something that makes you happy. You _do_ have something that makes you happy, don't you?"

Something that made him happy, Hakuba frowned. Well, he was a detective. Obviously, he was most happy when he'd solved the mystery and sent another criminal to jail.

"Right, uh, different memory please, Tantei-san. We're trying for normal, relaxed happy, not evil, triumphant happy. Evil, triumphant happy kind of draws attention."

.

…For their safety, Kaito had insisted that they each work on one alternate persona—just one disguise that they wouldn't need his help to put on. Something different and unrecognizable.

Well, more or less unrecognizable anyway. Kaito eventually had to give up on trying to teach them to be people they weren't, and decided instead to focus on making noticeable alterations to the people that they were. The problem was, of course, that all of the detectives excelled at drawing attention to themselves. It was part of their nature. Even Shinichi who had had more practice during his time as Conan could only be so convincing in a pinch; it was amazing what you could get away with when people thought you were a little kid. And nothing, Kaito firmly believed, could be more dangerous than a half baked disguise.

Kaito spent a day working with each of them to construct an identity not too similar but also not too different from their own, mapping out backgrounds, histories, personalities, fears, dreams, and anything else he could think of. And then for an entire week, he forbad any of them from doing or saying anything that could be considered out of character. Break that rule on purpose and one was subject to merciless, nonstop pranks for half an hour.

Needless to say, over-dinner conversations became rather sparse. They were usually too tired from being randomly grilled by Kaito, who would swap from identity to identity throughout the day to see how they would react, his eyes and ears ever vigilant for the slightest slip. They even slept in costume.

But once they had made it through those grueling seven days, It really did become a great deal easier. And dealing with strangers while in disguise was nothing after having to deal with Kaito.

There were times when anything seemed easier than having to deal with Kaito.

Fighting together turned out, ironically, to be the easy part. Or as easy as fighting giant crime organizations ever was. They had all worked together as a team to face dangers before, even if they weren't always on the same side of the law, and they understood what lay at stake.

It was living together that proved to be the tricky part.

Hah, pity him, did they? His fellow detectives had said that then, but really, Shinichi rather thought he had the last laugh in the end. There had to be some advantages, after all, to being KID's boyfriend…

.

Shinichi didn't even blink when he walked into the living room that morning and was nearly blinded by shades of yellow and bright fuchsia. The only real surprise was that Kaito had managed to restrain himself this long from his usual stunts.

Heiji glared as he sat down at the table across from him. "Why are you the only one who escaped the hair makeover?"

Shinichi smirked behind his coffee mug. "Because I'm special. And he likes my hair the way it is."

"And what was so wrong with mine?" Heiji demanded, jabbing a finger at his now blond hair.

"Don't know, maybe he didn't find it amusing enough."

"Amusing? How is this amusing? I freakin' look like Hakuba! Well," he amended, glancing in said detective's direction, "like Hakuba did yesterday anyway."

Hakuba glared. "He got you too, so you have no right to talk."

"At least mine's not pink."

"I'm sure it could be arranged."

Any further retorts were interrupted by a strange odor that had them all turning their heads towards the kitchen. They arrived upon the scene to discover Kaito examining something sizzling in the bottom of his frying pan with a baffled sort of frown.

"Is something wrong?" Shinichi asked, cautiously peering over his shoulder.

"Well," the magician drawled, moving the pan and turning it over. Its contents didn't fall out and he had to bang the pan against the counter a few times before it clattered onto the plate, "you could say that."

"What is it?" It looked kind of like a pancake, only Shinichi was pretty sure pancakes weren't supposed to be that color or be hard enough to rattle the silverware when it was served.

"Good question. We didn't really have much left in the fridge so I decided to throw it all together and see what would happen."

"…"

"I've never been much good at cooking." Probably because he'd never been much good at following directions.

Cautiously, Shinichi prodded the not-pancake with a fork. The prongs scraped uselessly across the surface without leaving a mark.

"Man, you're terrible," Heiji snickered. "Even _I_ can do better than _that_, and around my house, the only dish I'm famous for is my charcoal cake."

"We are going grocery shopping," Shinichi declared firmly, "and then I'm going to teach you how to cook so you don't accidentally poison us all."

Kaito shifted uncomfortably. "Grocery shopping? But there aren't any grocery stores nearby."

"What do you mean? There are several right down by the docks."

"Do I have to go?"

"Yes. Cooking doesn't just take place in the kitchen. It starts with good ingredients."

All the way down to the stores clustered about the docks, Kaito kept shooting uneasy glances at their surroundings as though expecting to be attacked at any moment. Shinichi frowned, puzzled by this extremely odd behavior, but whenever he tried to ask Kaito about it, the magician just laughed nervously.

"Just—just no, ah, seafood, okay?"

"You don't like f—"

A hand clamped firmly over his mouth and Kaito hissed quickly, "Nope, not one bit. Hated it all my life."

Shinichi blinked and nodded. The hand was removed and Kaito went back to staring around them with a worried look.

It wasn't until they had almost finished with the shopping list that something happened. One of the workers restocking the stores slipped and his box went flying from his hands, its fishy contents spilling across the concrete at their feet. Kaito leapt backwards as if he'd been electrocuted, shrieking as he bolted away down the street. The three detectives stared after him, open-mouthed then transferred their gazes down to the glazed eyes of the dead salmon.

"He's got a severe case of fish phobia," Hakuba said at last, wondering how he could have forgotten this fact. Kaito was just so in control of himself most of the time that the phobia seemed completely out of place. He'd even wondered once or twice if the magician just pretended to be terrified of fish to throw him off, seeing as Kaitou KID had never been seen to react badly to those same water-dwelling creatures.

"That's just so—_weird_," Heiji muttered.

.

…"Weird" pretty much summed up a lot of things when it came to Kaito. His apparent spontaneity earned him more than a few odd looks now and then, and his seemingly constant, seamless execution of magic tricks and acrobatic stunts drew their fair share of wondering spectators.

A performer to the core.

But perhaps for the detectives, what they really found most disconcerting was how difficult it was to ever really know what was going on behind that smile. What he was really thinking and feeling, the reasons why he did a lot of the things he did, and all the other things he kept behind his Poker Face. How much pain he hid behind his layers upon layers of masks…

.

The four of them had stopped by a multi-floored department store on their way to Kaito's next hideout to restock on supplies when the Black Organization finally caught up with them.

Heiji cursed, pulling his head back around the corner. "These guys are everywhere."

"I think this would be a good time to call the police," Hakuba said slowly. "They already know we're here. And even if they have infiltrated the police force here, it would be suspicious for them to ignore these people if they open fire on us."

But Shinichi shook his head. "If they have people in the police force here and they arrive on the scene to join the ruckus, we could easily end up making the situation worse for us and everyone else here. There has to be a way for us to get out of here without being caught."

Kaito cleared his throat. He had been standing to one side in silence while the detectives debated, his head cocked slightly to one side as though listening simultaneously to something else—probably a listening device he'd planted when they'd entered. He'd been the first one to spot the BO agents, though something about that still struck Shinichi as odd. Because the agent Kaito had noticed had not been wearing the usual Organization attire and the way Kaito had looked at him—it had been as though he had not only seen him before but _knew_ him. "I'm going to provide a distraction. The three of you should switch into your spare disguises and get out the front then make your way to the next hideout. The directions are in Shin-chan's pocket."

"But, Kaito," Shinichi protested, "we can't just leave you here."

"He's right," Heiji agreed, his brow furrowed in a frown that was mirrored on Hakuba's face.

But Kaito raised a hand to silence them and grinned, a grin they were all far too familiar with from their history with Kaitou KID. "Have you forgotten who you're talking to? Have a little faith in me. I'll be fine. Now _go_—before we run out of time."

He didn't give them any time to object, vanishing in a puff of colored smoke. Shinichi cursed, but searched around in his pockets nonetheless. Sure enough, there was a neatly folded piece of paper with a few cryptic symbols and words. The three detectives bent their heads over it, committing the message to memory so they could work on deciphering it as they went. First thing was first, they had to change and get out of the building.

All the way down the street and through the twisting alleyways, Shinichi kept expecting Kaito to catch up to them, perhaps drop down into their midst in an attempt to startle them. But they had found the hideout tucked away behind an old library, had time to scout around the area and familiarize themselves with its interior, and there was still no sign of him.

Dinner time came and went. The three detectives ate mechanically then sat in silence around the table. Shinichi kept glancing at the clock on the wall and Heiji fidgeted restlessly in his seat. Several times, Hakuba made as if to rise and head to the door but stopped himself, knowing that it would likely do no good anyway. It was strange how empty the place felt without Kaito.

It was probably due to their continued, tense silence that they heard the near soundless swish of the door opening and shutting, the lock clicking back into place. Three pairs of eyes immediately swiveled to the figure in the doorway as their owners started to get up.

"Kaito?" Shinichi ventured cautiously. The magician seemed oddly quiet. He didn't joke with Heiji, didn't try to kiss Shinichi, didn't even pull a prank on Hakuba who he normally seemed unable to _not_ harass, and Shinichi felt worry knot up even further in the pit of his stomach.

For a moment Kaito just stood there, leaning back against the door with his head tilted forward so that his face was hidden by the shadows of his bangs. Then he looked up and forced a ghost of his usual bright grin. "Good to see you all made it. If you'll excuse me, it's been a rather long day and I need to wash up."

And before any of them could ask him another question or attempt to stop him, he had vanished into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. A moment later they could hear the sound of the water being turned on.

"Do you think…he's all right?" Heiji asked somewhat unnecessarily as all three of them could sense that something was off.

Hakuba grunted from where he was crouched beside the front door. When the others turned to him, he pointed at a spot on the floor. In the glow from the lights in the ceiling, they could just make out traces of what they all immediately recognized as blood.

Shinichi was across the room in an instant, pounding on the bathroom door. "Kaito! What happened—are you hurt?"

When no one answered, he tried the doorknob only to find it locked. Before he could demand the magician open the door or at least answer the question, something fluttered past his face to land with a whisper upon the floor.

Heiji stooped to retrieve the scrap of paper and turned it over.

_Sorry, just can't talk about it right now. Maybe tomorrow._

_~ Kaito_

Even so, the three detectives lingered in the main room, reluctant to go to bed and leave their last companion alone. It felt awkward and a little unsure to realize how much they had begun to depend on one another—not just to help out and do their part but to _be there_. And perhaps because it was _Kaito_. Living with an internationally wanted criminal and working with him to protect all their lives and try to take down one of the biggest crime syndicates in the world was one thing. Knowing that that same thief they had all chased and tried to put behind bars more than once was willing and had put his own life in danger for theirs was something else.

Shinichi returned to the kitchen table and tried to read a book while Heiji paced restlessly around the room and Hakuba made himself another cup of tea, staring into its steaming depths as though lost in some internal struggle. They all tensed when the water turned off, but minutes dragged by and no one emerged. When they finally tried the bathroom door again, it opened easily but the room beyond was empty.

"How did he…?" Heiji started, frowning. They had all been watching the door like hawks since the magician had gone in.

Shinichi frowned. "There must be something connecting here and one of the other rooms."

This theory was confirmed when they found the door to one of the bedrooms was now sealed tight. In the end, they had no choice but to retire as well. It was going to be a long few hours until dawn.

Shinichi lay awake long after the others had drifted into a restless slumber, staring up at the ceiling—a mostly plain ceiling with a splattering of color where Kaito had been unable to stand the monotony any longer. His mind kept playing back that incredibly fake smile, like there had been so much turmoil locked behind it that even the thief's infamous Poker Face had been unable to conjure up any semblance of authenticity. What could have happened back there to make Kaito act so differently all of a sudden?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Shinichi got up and made his way silently to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind him, he flicked on the lights and began carefully to run his fingers across the walls and floor, searching. He had a pretty good idea of what he was looking for so it didn't take long for him to find it.

The room beyond was completely dark. Shinichi straightened slowly, blinking as he waited for his eyes to adjust.

"Sneaking into people's rooms at night now, Tantei-kun?"

The detective had half expected Kaito to be awake so he wasn't too surprised at the sudden question. Cautiously, he took a step in the direction of the voice, squinting as he tried to sort out the various dark shapes and shadows.

"There's a stool right in front of you," Kaito warned, "take a step to your right—okay, that's it."

A few more steps and his knees bumped into the side of something soft, which he assumed was probably a bed. He hesitated, unsure what he had planned on doing or saying next, and felt greatly relieved when a hand closed around his wrist and tugged him down to half sit, half sprawl against the magician's chest. He was right and Kaito hadn't been sleeping or even trying to sleep as the sheets remained neat and mostly undisturbed. Instead, the magician was just sitting with his back against the wall in the dark.

Shinichi let his hand rest on Kaito's arm but went stiff again at the feel of new bandages. Resisting the urge to go running for the light switch, he ran his fingers lightly up the magician's arm then around to check his shoulders. It was hard to tell through the fabric but he thought there might have been bandaging around his ribs as well. "I'm guessing you're not going to let me get up and take a look at your injuries?"

"It's just a few scratches here and there, nothing serious," Kaito said dismissively, tightening his hold on him in response. "I've had worse."

Right, worse—not exactly what Shinichi wanted to hear even if he knew the truth of it firsthand from having found the thief all those months ago. Much as he wanted to argue about it, he had something else pressing on his mind right now.

"You're upset," he said quietly, and he could only imagine just _how _upset Kaito had to be to let it show so blatantly. "You knew some of those men, didn't you? Is that why?"

He felt the magician tense for a moment before he forced himself to relax again. He was silent for so long that Shinichi thought he wasn't going to answer until, "Snake."

"What?"

"The man who was directing them, his codename is Snake."

Snake? He'd never heard that name before. There were a million questions Shinichi wanted to ask but he bit his tongue, not wanting to interrupt Kaito in case he decided to just clam up again like he had earlier that day.

After another long wait, Kaito seemed to recollect himself enough to continue, his voice completely devoid of emotion, "The shootings at KID heists, he's been responsible for most of them. Almost killed me the first time we met, and has been trying his best to get rid of me ever since. He hates KID with a passion, you know."

He stopped again, as though struggling with his next words. "…He murdered my father."

Shinichi's eyes widened. Kaito's voice was steady if halting, but he could feel him shaking almost imperceptibly as the story unfolded. Deep down, he had almost expected the story in a way, ever since Kaito had told him that the Organization had taken someone important to him—had pondered over it and come up with guesses of his own as he'd come to know the magician better. But hearing it from Kaito was somehow different.

"I've been trying to get him caught by the police for ages, but the bastard's slippery. And today," Kaito stopped abruptly, struggling to swallow the rage welling up again just at the memory, "he _dared _to threaten you."

The hold Kaito had on him was almost painful but Shinichi didn't complain, just closed his eyes and leaned back against him in an attempt to reassure him. It warmed him to know how much the magician really cared for him, but it also made him feel cold to realize how deeply Kaito would be hurt if… But he couldn't think like that.

"Now whose turn is it to have faith?" he asked instead, keeping his voice light. "I'm not exactly an amateur at dealing with killers even if I don't do it the way you do, and that goes for Hattori and Hakuba as well. I promise to be careful as long as you do the same. Neither of us is alone in this anymore, remember? We'll be watching out for each other's backs."

Several moments passed in which the magician seemed to consider his words then he allowed himself to relax, taking the time to stow away that anger Snake had brought back in a dark corner of his mind where it would hopefully stay for a good long time. "You're right. It's just hard not to worry."

"I know, but we'll all get through this together, I promise. Just—don't shut me out, okay? You scared me earlier."

Kaito chuckled, dropping his head to brush a kiss across his cheek. "Of course."

Shinichi sighed, feeling the uneasy tension that had been bothering him all day drain away at last. Scooting forward so he could lie down, he pulled at the covers with one hand and at Kaito's sleeve with the other. "It's late. We should try to get some sleep."

"Are you volunteering to stay here?" Kaito wondered aloud as he settled down next to him, amused.

Shinichi blushed and turned his face away despite the darkness—Kaito had uncannily good night vision—mumbling, "As long as you promise not to try any funny business…"

The magician chuckled and reached out to wrap his arms around him, pulling him closer. "Of course, though it _is _terribly tempting now that I have you to myself for a moment."

Pulling the covers up over his head, Shinichi grumbled an embarrassed and mostly incoherent response. But inside, he was just glad that there was emotion in Kaito's voice again and that, this time, it was genuine.

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, VIII A Change of Perspectives) **

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**AN:** Whew, that was a pretty long chapter. Thank you to all reviewers, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	5. VIII Their Different Ways

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 5 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

**AN:** Thank you for reviewing! I really appreciate the enthusiasm. I was a bit disappointed that the last chapter didn't get that many reviews since I really liked that chapter. Ah well…

In any case, I'm glad the characters are coming across more or less in character. I was worried about that.

On with the story!

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

**

* * *

**

**VIII**

**A Change of Perspectives**

Kaito didn't come out and tell the others what he'd told Shinichi, choosing instead the next morning to leave a few folders of notes and newspaper clippings upon the table, knowing that the detectives would most likely look inside. Then he'd dragged Shinichi out to buy breakfast while they waited for their companions to wake up. By the time they'd returned, the folders had been returned to a neat stack at the end of the table, and not another word was said on the matter. Kaito simply filed the folders away and life moved on, only now they understood a little more of the person behind the smile, and KID became just a little bit more human.

It made him maybe a little easier to live with, but it didn't make him any less strange.

Unfortunately, it also didn't make Hakuba and Heiji get along any better…

.

"I can't believe I have to pretend to be married to you."

"You make it sound like I'm not in the same boat."

"And why do I have to be the wife?"

"Because your luck stinks and the coin landed on tails instead of heads."

Hakuba scowled darkly, a look that was mirrored on Heiji's dark features along with a touch of annoyance.

"What's your problem anyway? You make it sound like being married to me would be the worst thing in the world."

"It isn't?"

"Oi, I'm a lot easier to live with than _you_. At least I actually _care_ about other people and give them a chance before judging them."

"Do you really want us to go into a debate on your character?"

"You're the arrogant, coldblooded bastard around here."

"Better than being a hotheaded fool."

Heiji bristled, growling. "You know, I've had just about enough of your attitude."

"You moved past my tolerance limit long ago."

"That's because you don't _have_ any tolerance. Do you even know what _tolerance_ means?"

"Of course I do," the blond retorted, his voice like acid. "It's what a person needs to put up with _you_."

Seated across from them in the train compartment, Kaito and Shinichi watched the exchange with varying degrees of amusement and irritation.

Kaito clucked his tongue in disapproval. "You're supposed to be a loving couple. Somehow, I don't think you two have the loving part down yet."

Heiji snorted. "Yes, _Saguru_, is that any way for a respectable woman to be talking to her _loving_ husband?"

Hakuba snarled and grabbed the front of Heiji's shirt, shoving him away from him. "Maybe if she's been thinking about signing divorce papers."

Shinichi sighed, leaning back into the cushions and tuning out the ensuing shouting match as best he could. "This is stupid. I'm starting to wonder if _we_ should have played the parents."

Kaito chuckled, draping an arm over his shoulders. "Nah, it's fun to watch them try so hard _not_ to make it work. I just wish we had some popcorn. Besides, it takes a lot less work to make us look like twins than it would take to make them look like brothers. Just be glad we have this compartment to ourselves."

"Although," he added thoughtfully, burying his nose in Shinichi's hair, "maybe I should put in the extra effort next time. It's more fun if we're not pretending to be related."

"Oi, Kaito, we're supposed to be playing brothers!"

"My point exactly."

Fortunately, the train pulled into their station before Hakuba and Heiji could kill one another. The British detective made to storm for the doorway but paused as though struck by a sudden thought. Flicking his long, blond hair over his shoulder, he shot his "spouse" a sweetly vengeful smile. "Well then, _Heiji_, please be a dear and grab my bags for me."

Then he was gone, leaving his Osaka counterpart to glare daggers at empty space.

Shinichi sighed. "Kaito, please tell me, wherever we're going, that it's not too far away."

"Well," Kaito drawled thoughtfully, "I guess that would depend on how you define "too" far."

"This was a terrible idea."

"I suppose you're right."

.

…The fact of the matter was that Shinichi was getting weary of listening to his fellow detectives bicker. In small doses it could be amusing, but day in and day out and it was just so damned _tiresome_. Yet any attempt to make them get along only seemed to backfire and, really, as long as it didn't interfere with their long term goals, Shinichi didn't have the energy to be concerned. He had too many other, more important things to worry about…

.

"What are these?" Shinichi asked, though he was pretty sure he already knew.

"Profiles for people who are likely to be at the local museum in three days." Not pausing in putting away the dishes, Kaito began to rattle off names, ages, attitudes, histories, and various other facts about a dozen or so individuals. Shinichi sifted through the papers spread out on the table atop the museum blueprints and, sure enough, it was all there.

"I understand this might seem like a stupid question, but why?"

"Well, if I'm going to be stealing the Heaven's Fire, I had better be prepared, no?"

Shinichi made a noise in his throat caught between irritation and distress. "You're seriously going to go on a heist knowing that they've got their eyes on you?"

"Well, yeah. They've had their eyes on me for a long time and it's never stopped me before."

"But this time, those eyes are going to be a lot more motivated."

"I know. But it's been awhile since my last heist and they might start taking drastic measures if they don't feel like they have a handle on my activities. Don't worry so much, Shin-chan! I promise I've got it covered. Ah, and it looks like my lovely assistants have done their jobs perfectly as always."

Kaito moved to the computer he'd set up on the kitchen counter and Shinichi got up to join him. The screen showed three different windows, each containing a different, moving viewpoint of the museum in question. Even as they watched, one of the displays swooped in through a window and began a circuit of the spacious lobby.

"Your assistants?"

"Ah, I forgot I hadn't introduced you yet. Al, Aka, and Zam, my three best spy doves."

"…"

"If it makes you any happier, I _did _only just send out my heist notice this morning, so no one's going to have much time to prepare."

"I can't talk you out of it, can I," Shinichi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "All right then, I'm coming with you."

Kaito blinked, momentarily startled from his intense contemplation of the computer screen. "What?"

The detective rolled his eyes. "Not _with _you obviously, but I'm going to be there. With the number of people who religiously attend your heists, blending in shouldn't be a problem. And at least that way, I can help keep an eye out for snipers."

"But, Shin-chan, it might be dangerous."

"No more than it will be for you—in fact, probably less so as I won't be dressed like a big, white target. Now, are these all the blueprints or is there more?"

.

…It was a very different experience for the detective to approach a KID heist from the thief's perspective and watching the thief in question go about preparing for the night's escapade. Though Kaito's outward behavior didn't change much, it was as though part of his mind was always elsewhere, calculating, memorizing, plotting, and analyzing. During most of the day, he would have one eye on his computer screen. And at night, Shinichi would find him in their room staring at the blueprints with a fiercely intent expression on his face, not writing notes or making any markings on the paper, just staring as he worked out details in his mind. A good thief left as little evidence as possible, even in the safety of his own base.

Shinichi himself had his own plans to see to. He visited the museum with the magician the day before the heist, but instead of focusing his attention on the museum, he turned his eyes to the buildings that surrounded it, looking for good vantage points from which to view the actions to follow and pinpointing hiding places an enemy might find ideal. Then, of course, there was the local police force and the crowds themselves to consider.

Way too much to have to oversee for one person…

.

"Hey, Kudou! Kudou, you all right?"

Someone was shaking his shoulder. Blinking groggily, Shinichi sat up, grimacing at the stiffness in his back and shoulders. Damn, he'd fallen asleep at the kitchen table.

"What is it, Hattori?"

Heiji rolled his eyes, dropping into the chair across from him. He was followed moments later by Hakuba, who laid several files upon the tabletop.

"You could have just asked us to help, you know. You won't be able to do anything for him at the heist if you're too exhausted to keep your eyes open, not to mention you've been worrying him."

Hakuba coughed. "I have some details on the taskforce that will be there tonight that might interest you."

.

…It was kind of funny how, in the end, it was a KID heist that finally managed to start his two fellow detectives upon the road to actually being able to appreciate one another's qualities. Then again, voluntarily putting your lives on the line with one another and _for_ one another had a way of doing that to you. If nothing else, it bred a kind of mutual respect, especially after Hakuba stopped Heiji from getting his hand sliced open by a rigged door and the latter saved his life by knocking out the man who'd had his gun trained on Hakuba's chest.

Because true to Shinichi's concerns, the Organization had sent agents—not trained snipers this time, not yet, but it was probably only a matter of time. And that was when they realized that they could use this to their advantage.

KID had been Kaito's way of luring the Organization out into the open, and now it became the detectives' best chance as well. Shinichi wasn't happy about it, but they didn't have the luxury of time or choice, and they simply had to trust that all four of them would come out of this journey alive.

Ironic really, how it was KID who had originally brought them all together, and now it would be KID that allowed them to begin engineering the downfall of those who hunted them.

After the heist, though tired, none of them could sleep, too full of adrenaline and the sense that they were finally beginning to make their own moves against the enemy. For the first time, they weren't just running and gathering information. It was going to be one dangerous, huge and intricate trap, but they were eager and ready to meet the challenge.

They had to be.

And though each of them had come into this conflict on their own, even the less friendly members of their impromptu team knew deep down that they would end it together…

.

Kaito and Shinichi were curled up on the couch together reading a book while Heiji and Hakuba tried not to look at one another over a game of chess. It felt a little strange not to be antagonizing one another and they didn't really know where to begin. So instead of prodding at one another, they started with a safer topic—namely, their other two companions.

"It's funny, but they kind of suit one another," Heiji observed, tapping a pawn he had knocked off the board earlier thoughtfully against the tabletop. "I just always thought Kudou would end up with Nee-san. I was shocked when Kazuha told me they'd decided to just be friends."

"Just friends," Hakuba repeated, musing. "Strange phrase, "just" friends. I'm more surprised that Kuroba ended up with anyone. He's always been popular at school, but he's never really been close to anyone. Well, I suppose he and Aoko used to be close when they were kids, but then with taking up KID's work… I suppose lies and secrets can't help but push people apart."

"Mm, I suppose."

"So… Who's Kazuha?"

"A very good friend of mine," Heiji said shiftily then groaned. "She's going to be so mad at me. We just up and left and didn't tell anyone."

"I'm sure she'll understand when you explain the circumstances," Hakuba reassured him, feeling a bit awkward.

"Yeah, maybe. Or maybe she'd be happier if I just let her yell at me a bit first."

"Do you…love her?"

"Huh? Kazuha?" Heiji flushed, staring down at the chess board. "Well, yeah, I guess I do. Always have, I think. Not that I'm going to tell her that."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. It would just feel strange. I like the arrangement we have now. Eventually I will, but only when I'm sure that I can make her happy and won't be running off all the time." Heiji trailed off, hesitated, then asked with equal awkwardness, "So…do you have someone…you know…"

Hakuba shrugged. "No. I've moved around too much, always been too busy." Another pause then he added almost as an afterthought, "But it would be nice to have someone who wants you to stay with them that much."

"Kazuha would probably say that when the right person comes along, you'll know."

"I'm a detective," Hakuba said dryly, "not a romantic."

"Hey! I was trying to be nice here, bastard."

Hakuba struggled for a moment then burst out laughing. "Listen to us. We sound so pathetic."

"Speak for yourself," Heiji grumbled, but managed a faint grin all the same.

.

…When it came to strategies and mysteries, they all had their own expertise and there wasn't necessarily a whole lot they could or needed to learn from one another. They were, after all, all considered geniuses in their own way. But when it came to everything else, learning was all they did. You couldn't survive being hunted by and then bring down a criminal syndicate together without learning a thing or two about yourself, about your teammates, and about life.

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**TBC… (next chapter, VII Our Different Ways) **

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**AN: **Gah, for some reason, I just find Heiji incredibly difficult to write. Odd, as when I started writing this, I thought he'd be easy. Just goes to show.

Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!


	6. VII Our Different Ways

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 6 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

**AN:** Just a note that I decided to not actually write on the end struggle with the BO. So this chapter begins right after that.

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

**

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**

**VII**

**Our Different Ways**

It had been strange, the last time the four of them had returned to their latest hideout to realize that they could finally go home. Home…such an interesting concept that was, somewhere familiar, somewhere you could stay, somewhere you could go back to, somewhere safe.

Funny how the thought of that was almost more nerve-wracking than running for their lives had been…

.

Shinichi shut his cell phone and made his way back into the small living room to find his colleagues locked in combat on the videogame console Kaito had decided to procure some days before in the name of stress relief. Retrieving his coffee from the table, he sat down on the couch next to Kaito to watch.

"Who's winning?"

"Hattori." Kaito arched the cards he'd been shuffling between his hands, glancing sidelong at his detective. "So everything's sorted out with the FBI?"

"More or less, on our end anyway. There are still some minor players out there, but our part is officially finished."

He sensed more than felt Kaito tense, though his hands never faltered. Shinichi shook his head in answer to the question he knew he wanted to ask and the magician's shoulders slumped just for a fraction. So Snake was still out there then. Oh well, he'd been hoping—of course he'd been _hoping_. But he knew better than anyone that plans didn't always go the way you wanted.

He felt Shinichi's hand on his shoulder and forced himself to relax.

"We'll get him eventually."

"Yeah, I know."

Before another word could be said, Heiji's vehicle crossed the finish line and Hakuba swore.

Heiji chortled. "Eat my dust, Hakuba! That's the third time in a row."

Vanishing the poker cards in a puff of blue smoke, Kaito leapt off the couch and snatched the controller from the British detective's hands. "My turn."

Pouring himself a large, large cup of tea, Hakuba retreated to the room's single worn and slightly overstuffed armchair.

Shinichi raised his eyebrows at the size of his glass. "Just use the teapot, why don't you."

Hakuba snorted, swirling the liquid around and staring at the dark fragments of tea leaves at the bottom. "Do you think he's upset?"

"No," Shinichi sighed, "just disappointed."

"That's to be expected I suppose. It's unfortunate to be sure."

"Yes, it is, because he'll be back. I'm sure of it. He hates KID too much."

"Back to the old song and dance, you mean, as soon as things settle down."

"I'm afraid that that will be the case."

Thirty minutes later and Heiji threw his controller aside in disgust. "Why are you so damned good at this?"

Kaito just cackled evilly. "I'm just awesome. You hadn't noticed?"

Grumbling, Heiji got up and left in search of his own coffee mug.

"No way," Hakuba said when Kaito looked at him, clutching tightly onto his cup to show just how unwilling he was to let it go. "I'm not playing again today, especially not against you."

Kaito let out a dramatic sigh and turned pleading eyes on Shinichi. "Shin-chan?"

"I'm terrible at videogames."

"But it's no fun playing by myself. _Please_?"

The expectant silence stretched on while Shinichi looked away then sighed and put his coffee down, moving to sit on the carpet. "…Fine."

Returning to the living room, Heiji took up a position on the recently vacated couch. The mug in his hands was warm, its contents steaming hot—way too hot to drink, so he just held it while he watched the new game begin. "So, what now?"

Hakuba shrugged. "We go back."

"I can't believe it's been almost a year," Heiji mused. "I'm almost going to miss all this. Though don't get me wrong, I'm more than ready to go home. It's just…well, in retrospect, we did manage to have some fun, you know?"

"Yes, fun," Hakuba agreed, smirking. "Fun, like when you tried to practice your Mandarin at that temple when we were passing through China and ended up nearly getting your head taken off by that old man with the broom and those exceedingly healthy lungs."

Heiji pretended he hadn't heard. He still had nightmares about that old man. "Why don't we do something fun before we fly back to Japan. You know, like a farewell party or something."

"Do you have something in particular in mind?"

"I don't know. We could take a local tour and see the attractions?"

"How about we go skiing?" Kaito suggested suddenly, not taking his eyes from the television screen. "Been awhile since I last saw snow. And we're not that far from Lake Tahoe."

After some debate, they agreed that perhaps skiing would be interesting, a fitting last venture before the final, great adventure of returning home. They would set out the next morning.

While the other two detectives retired to their own room to pack and prepare for an early start, Shinichi looked down at Kaito who had, at some point, lay down and put his head in Shinichi's lap while he played. Despite the change in position, the magician was still somehow managing to win.

"I wonder if I should feel insulted," he said dryly.

"Don't. I've always been good at this game."

Shinichi snorted but he never seemed able to muster much annoyance for the thief these days. "So, are you going to tell me why you're so keen to see snow?"

"Well, it only seems proper, don't you think? After all, it's almost Christmas."

.

…It was probably the quietest farewell party anyone had ever had. They spent half the day on the ski slopes then made their way to a small apartment they had rented only a little ways from the lake shore. It was a small place and it seemed a bit ridiculous to get a tree when they only intended to stay for one night, so instead, they bought several boxes of Christmas lights and put them up inside. They took turns in the kitchen, throwing together dishes of their own choosing, and then all sat down in the living room to eat and watch whatever happened to be on television. It wasn't until they'd almost finished that any of them spoke…

.

"So what are all of you planning to do when we finally get back?"

"I should probably check in with my father," Hakuba mused. "Check in with my housekeeper, see if any interesting cases have come up in my absence."

"In other words, you're going straight back to work," Heiji said, rolling his eyes. "You really need to get a life."

Brown eyes glowered across a bowl of pasta. "And what about you?"

"A nice, long, uninterrupted nap in my own bed sounds like a good start. Then I'm going to visit all of my favorite restaurants in Osaka and then all of my favorite restaurants in Tokyo. It's been way too long since I've had some proper home cooking."

"Restaurant food doesn't count as home cooking," Hakuba observed.

"Mere technicalities. What about you two?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Nothing special. I'll probably have a lot of explaining to do to a lot of people."

Kaito made a noncommittal sound in his throat. "Just the usual for me too, I guess—get back to finishing college and keeping an eye out for shiny things of great value—oh, which reminds me."

Something gold materialized in his hand with a snap of his fingers and he tossed them across the plate-laden table to Heiji. "Catch."

Startled, the detective reached up to catch the object and stared down at it in puzzlement. "A charm bracelet?"

"For your girlfriend," Kaito clarified, picking up his fork once more. "You were telling Hakuba how you were worried about her being angry, weren't you? Well, that bracelet has charms from pretty much all the countries that we passed through. Just a token to show that you've been thinking about her. You obviously _have_."

"Oh. Well, uh, thanks."

He hadn't known Kuroba had heard that conversation.

"You're welcome."

Heiji pocketed the charm bracelet and moved to pick up his plate again only to halt in surprise. "Er, guys, I think there's something wrong with this cookie."

Three pairs of eyes turned to him and he held up the cookie in question so they could see the smiling face drawn in blue upon its rough, golden brown surface. "I'm sure this wasn't how it looked when I took it off the tray."

They paused then all looked at Kaito who laughed and picked up a cookie of his own. "You must have spilled something on it. See, watch."

He dipped the cookie into a cup of milk and, when he showed it to them again, another face could be seen, only this one was scowling and drawn in green. "Cool, huh? Munchies with moods for all occasions! Or maybe it should be munchies with many moods for each occasion? I was thinking I could make them again next Halloween."

.

…They had tacitly agreed not to buy any presents, not the kind of present that went beneath a Christmas tree, got unwrapped and exclaimed over, and then sat around on a shelf collecting dust. It wasn't like any of them had anything they particularly wanted, at least not the kind of things that money could buy. Thoughtfulness on each of their parts was more than present enough…

.

They packed up what food was left over—they'd probably eat it tomorrow morning before they left for the airport—and Heiji went and grabbed his coat from the coat hooks beside the door.

"Hey, Hakuba, let's head down to the lake and see what we can see. Seems like a shame if we come all this way and don't even get one look at the water."

Hakuba started to protest, but he didn't give him the chance. Throwing his scarf around his neck and grabbing him by the back of the jacket, Heiji hauled him outside with him and shut the door behind them.

"What are you doing, Hattori?"

"Giving them some time alone. Isn't it obvious?"

"Why?"

Heiji shrugged, turning his feet towards the road that would take them down to the lake. "Jeez, you're almost as bad as Kudou. We've all been so busy the past couple months, none of us have really had any time to ourselves. So I figured they'd appreciate it. Now come on, let's go see if we can get a boat. I was serious about seeing the lake. You can see a lot more stars out here than back home in the city."

Hakuba mulled over his words for a moment then frowned, hurrying to catch up with him. "Hey, did you just say I was dense?"

Back inside their current residence, Shinichi paused in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen and lifted his eyebrows. "Where'd everybody go?"

"They went out," Kaito said from behind him, making Shinichi jump. "It was nice of them to give us some space, ne?"

"When did you—oh never mind." Shaking his head, Shinichi sat back down on the couch with a sigh.

"Something wrong? You've been quiet all day."

The detective shut his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled into Kaito's lap. Okay, so maybe it was kind of nice to have the apartment to themselves. He'd have to thank the other two sometime.

"It's nothing, just thinking about going back. It's probably going to feel strange for awhile."

"Less exciting?"

Shinichi winced. "Hardly. It's just…well, I haven't had any actual murder cases in months and it's been kind of a relief. And with the Organization…we didn't get them all, but we still took them down and saved a lot of lives. It's going to feel strange going back to solving murders, always wondering if we could have stopped it if only people had noticed a bit earlier, done something differently…"

"There's a lot more to life than solving crimes, even for a detective."

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?"

"Yes, theoretically. When you run into murders as often as I do, there's no such thing as time off."

Kaito hummed thoughtfully. "You know, I never really admired a detective until I met you."

Shinichi felt the heat rise in his cheeks and cracked open one eye so he could turn his head and glare at him. "Flattery gets you nowhere."

"On the contrary, Tantei-kun, flattery gets you _everywhere_. But I'm being serious here. Focusing on murders, getting killers off the streets—it's not just about justice. It's the fact that you stop them from hurting anyone else."

"In other words, what you're trying to do too," Shinichi said quietly. "Maybe you should think about becoming a detective too."

"Me, a detective? Shin-chan, are you sure you're okay? You seem to have forgotten who you're talking to."

"I'm sure you could do it, and it would be less—well, illegal. And less dangerous."

Kaito chuckled. "Don't worry, I don't plan on being a thief forever. But for now, the world still needs a person like me."

"A thief?" Shinichi asked, disbelieving.

The next thing he knew, Kaito had flipped him onto his back and was grinning down at him, his elbows resting on either side of his head. "No, Tantei-kun, a magician who can do the impossible and still always get away."

As if suddenly noticing the position he'd put them in, they both froze for a moment, staring at one another. Really, the detective was a bit surprised that up until that point, the magician had never actually tried anything despite the fact that it had been a year and a half and he was always finding excuses to hang all over him. Like he was waiting for him to give the okay, something he definitely appreciated. But then it was Christmas and they did have the place to themselves.

Shinichi looked away and coughed, blushing faintly. "So, are you going to kiss me or what?"

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, VI Returning Home **– _readjusting to normal life isn't exactly a walk in the_ _park_**) **

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**AN: **Again, I chose not to actually write on the fall of the BO—for a couple reasons. Firstly, I don't think I know enough about them to do it well. And secondly, I'm not really that interested in them, and I figured that if I'm bored, I would never be able to write something interesting. I wanted to focus this story on how the characters themselves developed and changed.

This chapter was meant to bring the story back to where chapter one began. The second half of the story (next six chapters) will be focusing on various events after returning home (as well as tying off lines like with Pandora, etc).

As always, thank you for reading and please review!


	7. VI Returning Home

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 7 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, eventual minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

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**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

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**VI**

**Returning Home**

And so here they were, sitting at the table in the kitchen of the Kudou mansion eating dinner as though nothing had ever happened. That was the funny thing about life sometimes; it moved on with barely a shake to settle ruffled feathers back into place.

Or not so neatly, Shinichi supposed. At least not for the four of them. After all, there were some things you did when you were on the run from a giant criminal organization that you just didn't do in normal life.

For one, when being captured or killed were very real possibilities, it was best to make sure that someone knew where you were or should be at all times. Keeping track of one another had become a vital part of keeping one another alive and unhurt, not always an easy task as Kaito hated being cooped up even in his own hideouts and Heiji and Hakuba could only take so much of one another's company in close quarters even after they'd gotten over their larger differences. Shinichi couldn't even begin to count the number of times one or the other would come storming into his and Kaito's room to snarl a declaration as to where they were going before storming out the door. At least Kaito almost never went out alone as he usually managed to drag Shinichi with him. Yet take away the looming specter of imminent disaster and the habit seemed a bit…strange at best…

.

"Hey, Hakuba, I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading for the police station now."

"…Okay…"

"I probably won't be back home until after midnight, since Dad's been invited to a formal gathering downtown and I'm going with him."

"…Right."

The line went dead and Hakuba slowly lowered his cell phone and stared at it, wondering why the other detective had called him all the way from Osaka to tell him this. Shaking his head, he sat back in his chair in his office in the Ekoda police station and went back to the case files on his desk.

"Hey, Kuroba, I'm at the train station."

"Here?"

"Oh no, in Osaka. Someone was murdered on the train so I'll be late getting home."

"Er, do you need help?"

"Nah, everything's under control. Just wanted to let you know."

"Oh, well, okay then. We don't have any plans this weekend. Do you want to come up and eat dinner with us on Saturday?"

"Sure. Tell Kudou I said hi."

Shinichi looked up from his work and raised his eyebrows.

"Hattori called," Kaito told him, tossing his phone into the air, catching it again, then making it vanish. "I invited him to dinner. I was thinking about calling Hakuba too. We can have a nice little reunion."

"And where exactly were you planning on having this reunion?"

"Uh, not here?"

"Good answer. I don't feel like having to clean up afterwards."

"Aww, no need to worry. I wouldn't have wanted the reunion here anyway. It would get in the way of our _alone_ time!"

"…"

"In any case, I was thinking about that new restaurant downtown, the one that just opened up across the street from that coffee shop you like so much. I've heard that it's supposed to be pretty good."

.

…Then there was how Hakuba never took a straight route home anymore, always altering the streets he took, doubling back, and circling around so that by the time he got home, sometimes, even he wasn't sure how it had happened.

As for Shinichi and Kaito, life soon fell into a comfortable sort of rhythm. The detective was jumpier than he'd ever been, but Kaito's almost constant presence helped a lot more than he cared to admit. And as for the magician himself, well, he had never been normal to begin with so he couldn't really develop any abnormal tendencies.

Shinichi took up playing soccer again on the side when he wasn't in class at the university they were both attending or working on a case, mostly as a way to relax. And Kaito put some effort into learning the game so he could join him now and then—though as a player, he left much to be desired as he didn't particularly like to pass the ball and his reflexes dictated that as goalie, he dodge the ball rather than try to block it, an instinct which he blamed on Shinichi and was probably really for the most part his fault. Out on the field, however, it was almost impossible to steal the ball from him as Kaito was just as good at dodging people as he was at dodging balls and could run faster than the stars of the track team.

If nothing else, it was certainly interesting to watch and sort of reminded Shinichi of what the taskforce looked like when it was chasing after KID.

Perhaps the magician just had too much energy to spare these days with classes never able to hold his attention and Shinichi limiting the number of heists he went on—to times when Hakuba, Heiji, or himself was available to attend, but he hadn't told Kaito that, not really wanting to worry him with just how anxious he was. In any case, the result was that the magician had to find other things to occupy his time and attention.

One of these "other things" turned out to be Heiji's love life, or lack thereof. Kaito seemed to have taken up helping Heiji in his personal romantic affairs as a sort of hobby whether the detective liked it or not, and would occasionally catch a train to Osaka when Shinichi was busy.

Shinichi ended up receiving more than a few calls to complain about that…

.

"Kudou! Why is your boyfriend at my house? Scratch that, how does he even know where I _live_?"

At least how he'd gotten in was no great mystery, all considered.

"I didn't tell him, if that's what you're getting at," Shinichi replied dryly. He apparently hadn't had to. "And how am I supposed to know what he's doing there? Why don't you just ask him?"

"I was going to, but—hey! Give that back!"

"Hi, Shin-chan!"

"Hey, Kaito. Why are you at Hattori's?"

"Well, you see, Tantei-han is going on a date this evening—"

"What? Why don't I know about this?"

"—and I thought I'd jot over and help him get ready, seeing as I was talking to Toyama-san—"

"You _talked_ to her? Since when?"

"—and he's never officially taken her on one. Can you _believe_ that? I would never waste so much time! There's so much to do! And Hattori told her he'd pick her up at six—"

"I did?"

"I was looking through his wardrobe and it's even worse than yours! No offense of course, Shin-chan. You'd look good in anything."

Shinichi leaned back in the armchair he was occupying in his family library, drumming his fingers on the open pages of the book in his lap. In the background on the other end of the line, he could hear crashes and cursing from the Osaka detective. He could just picture the scene, Kaito dancing out of the way while keeping the phone just out of reach. He'd never actually been in the other detective's house, but by the sound of it, it was probably pretty cluttered. Or if it wasn't before, it was now.

"Kaito, somehow, I don't think Hattori appreciates your, ah, help."

"He might not now, but he will in the future," Kaito said cheerfully. "And I'm sure Toyama-san will be more than happy."

"I guess that's probably true…"

"Besides, I'm bored." There was definitely a slight whine in there now.

Shinichi sighed. "Just try not to traumatize him too much. I should be done with this case and most of my homework by seven."

"Great! I'll definitely be back by then."

_Poor Hattori_, Shinichi thought, closing his cell phone and setting it back on the lamp stand. _Better him than me. _

Kaito tended to get evil as well as creative when he was bored.

At least he was good about giving Shinichi space when he _really_ had a lot of work to do. Most of the time, and with promises to pay him back later.

.

…The first couple weekends home found Kaito and Shinichi cleaning and redecorating the Kudou manor. Well, Kaito called it redecorating. But what constituted redecorating for him seemed more like remodeling to Shinichi. There was the new paint job, the rearrangement of furniture, and the new curtains on the windows. And then there was…everything else…

.

"Kaito, what are you doing to the bookshelf?"

Poking his head out from behind said bookshelf, Kaito grinned. "It's not just a bookshelf anymore, Shin-chan. It's the door to your first new secret passageway."

Stepping around the bookshelf so he could get a better look, Shinichi's jaw almost hit the floor. "Did you just cut a _hole_ through my _wall_?"

"Don't worry, I made sure not to interfere with the original structure too much, and it's well reinforced so it won't cause the building any damage. Now we can get from the library directly into this nifty little room I've added here," he moved inside to show him this, "and from there to our bedroom."

"And why would we need to do that?"

"I don't know, but it could be useful. It's a great hiding place, for instance, if we get any uninvited guests."

"…Hold on a second, the _first_ of my new secret passageways? You mean there are _more_?"

"Well, not all of them are _passageways_ per say. I put up a few spare walls, false partitions and that sort of thing. Then there's this one room behind the grandfather clock in the living room, complete with a peep hole and a sliding panel so you can spy on people passing through there. I also added a few trapdoors, an additional alarm system, security cameras, sleeping gas triggers, a quick route to the roof in case we need to get away fast, and other things. Oh, and get this. There's a holographic projection system in the basement now that does ghosts!"

So the rumors of his house being haunted would now be partially true.

"_Why_?"

The magician paused for a moment to consider this. "It just seemed like a cool idea at the time. To scare people maybe? For our own entertainment? I could probably program them to do videogame and movie simulations too."

"…" Shinichi shook his head. "Anyway, Ran just called. I'm meeting her and Sonoko at the frozen yogurt place down the street. You coming?"

"I'd love to once I've finished here."

"How long will it take?"

"Half an hour maybe, an hour tops. Ah, maybe you should go ahead and I'll meet you all later for dinner?"

"All right. Call me when you're done?"

"Will do."

Shinichi left the house wondering whether it would still look the same when he got back. At least he didn't think he had to worry about not having a house to return to. It was a good, sturdy building—had to be to survive Doctor Agasa as a neighbor for so many years—and should be able to take whatever the magician decided to dish out. Hopefully, he wouldn't spend the next few weeks getting lost in and falling through trapdoors in his own house.

Ran smiled when she spotted him in the doorway of the small yogurt store then frowned in surprise. "Hi, Shinichi. Where's Kaito-kun?"

"Rebuilding my house." Into his house.

"Huh?"

"Long story. He said he'll join us later for dinner." Sliding into a chair at the corner table she'd chosen, Shinichi cast an apprehensive look around. "Where's Sonoko? I thought you said she insisted on coming."

"Oh she's coming. She's just running a little late. So," Ran hesitated, eyeing him curiously, "what were you up to these last twelve months?"

"Well," Shinichi started, shifting a bit uneasily under her scrutiny, "you saw the news about that syndicate that got disbanded recently?"

"You were involved?"

"Yeah."

Ran sighed, digging her spoon into her frozen yogurt and swirling it idly. "Why am I not surprised?"

"You're not going to yell at me?" Shinichi finally asked, bewildered. She always yelled at him when he went disappearing off to solve a case without telling her.

Ran shrugged. "I knew you were going to be gone for awhile. Kaito-kun told me."

"He did?"

She nodded slowly. "He called me the night you guys disappeared."

She could still remember the call clearly.

"_Shinichi?" _

"_No, sorry." _

"_Ka—?" _

"_Shh, listen to me, Mouri-chan. I don't have a lot of time. I just wanted to let you know that Shinichi and I are going to be gone for awhile. That's all I can say, but don't worry. We'll be all right and we'll be back before you know it." _

He had sounded so serious, so unlike the Kaito she had come to expect since that first time he'd turned up on their school trip, and all she'd been able to do was nod even though he couldn't see her over the phone and ask him to be careful and to take care of her friend.

"_Of course I will. You didn't have to ask." _

At last, Ran looked back up at Shinichi and smiled. "I think he didn't want me to be mad at you."

Shinichi looked away and out the window, not knowing what to say. He was distracted from further contemplations of the swell of half familiar feelings in his chest when the store door slammed open and Sonoko came hurtling towards their table.

"Kudou, how dare you! Ran told me you have a _boyfriend_! Why am I always the last one to find out about these things? Don't tell me he's another one of you detective geeks."

It was exactly fifty minutes later that Kaito finally arrived to save him from Sonoko's clutches. And even so, dinner couldn't have ended too soon.

.

…Kaito had quickly become a permanent fixture at the Beika police station, at least when Shinichi was around. The first time Inspector Megure met Kaito, he mistook him for Shinichi and hauled him off to the most recent crime scene which happened to be in the seafood section of the local supermarket, whereupon Kaito had proceeded to completely freak out until the real Shinichi had arrived to rescue him. Then he'd spent the rest of the investigation attached to Shinichi's side. Shinichi himself was too accustomed to this to notice anymore, but it earned him more than a few mystified looks from his fellow detectives.

The other officers had understandably had their doubts about the magician at first. He was a distraction with all his juggling balls and poker cards and flowers for all the female officers plus Shinichi, an enigma with a knack for unsettling law enforcement officials. He almost gave Takagi a heart attack the first time he'd entered their office—through the third story window, and then proceeded to leave the same way he'd come. And that wasn't the only thing about him that made the poor man unnecessarily anxious…

.

"Takagi-keiji, is there a problem?"

"Oh, um, I'm sorry, Kudou-san. Could you repeat that?"

Shinichi frowned up at the older detective, wondering why he had spaced out all of a sudden. Following his gaze, he turned just in time to watch Kaito sweep into a bow and offer Satou a yellow rose and a charming smile. The other detective accepted the flower with a laugh and Kaito joined her, grin firmly in place. They couldn't hear what the two were talking about, but Satou was smiling.

Beside him, Takagi let out a small sigh, caught between anxiety and dejection. "You—you don't think..."

"Don't worry, Kaito's like that with all the women he meets," Shinichi assured him. "I think it's habit. He doesn't mean anything by it."

"But how can you be sure?"

Shinichi coughed, turning red and looking quickly away. To be honest, he was kind of surprised Takagi hadn't figured it out yet. Kaito wasn't exactly discreet with his affections. Pretty much the only thing he _hadn't_ done was shout it from the rooftops, and with some of his antics, he might as well have done just that. Like it bothered the magician to think that there would be someone left out there who _didn't_ know they were together.

Then again, Takagi wasn't exactly the clearest thinker where Satou was concerned, probably as a result of his pitiable self esteem.

"Trust me, I'm sure."

.

…There was just something about Kaito that they couldn't quite put their fingers on, like what they saw was all just an act, but an act so perfect it made reality seem unreal. But after having the magician along for a few cases, this soon ceased to matter. Because the fact was that Kaito was _useful_…when he wanted to be. Usually, he just tagged along with Shinichi and put his photographic memory and skills at reading people to good use. But occasionally, one of the other detectives would get a case that piqued his interest, or he'd pitch in for some other reason, no one was entirely sure what…

.

Detective Shiratori sat alone at a table in the main office at the police station, staring at a mug of fast-cooling coffee that he had barely touched. It had just been such a _strange_ day.

It had all started when he'd arrived at the station to find his top murder suspect from the jewelry theft case waiting for him at the door. The woman had burst into tears the moment she'd laid eyes on him and confessed everything, how jealous she had been and how afraid she'd been when she'd escaped the scene with her prize only to have it hit her at last that she'd actually taken another person's life. Up until that point, the story had been fairly expected, but then the ghost had appeared in the narrative and the lines between expected and bizarre had become a little hazy. The woman claimed that the spirit of the murder victim had spoken to her, frightened her at first, and that she'd agreed to turn herself in to the police and confess everything, because really that was the only right thing to do if she wanted to be able to live with herself in the future.

Shiratori had been inclined to write her off as a madwoman, but she'd taken him to the park where she'd claimed to have buried the bulk of her theft and, sure enough, there they were. Not all of it—a few pieces had fallen into the river in her rush—but enough to convince him of her guilt.

And then—then when they'd gotten back to the station, that Kuroba kid who always seemed to be hanging around Kudou had approached him and offered him a bag—with every last piece of the missing jewelry in it. Some of the necklaces still had bits of riverweed stuck to them.

"_I found it caught in the shallows,"_ he'd explained easily, _"and I recognized some of it from the news." _

Had there been pictures of the stolen items on the news? Shiratori couldn't remember, but he supposed it _was_ possible.

Finally remembering that he'd gotten himself a mug of coffee, Shiratori took a large gulp and grimaced. Coffee always tasted so terrible when cold. He was just considering getting up and employing the aid of the microwave when the sound of footsteps alerted him to the fact that he was no longer by himself.

"You won't believe what just happened," Satou muttered, sinking into the chair across from him.

"Try me."

"Takagi and I tracked down those bank robbers who shot that clerk the other day. We had one of them cuffed and in the car when the other one pulled a knife on Takagi and ran. We gave chase of course, but there were so many people on the streets—we thought we'd lost him then we turned the corner and there he was."

"He stopped running?"

"You better believe it. People don't tend to run very well when trussed up with duct tape and shaving cream."

"…Shaving cream?"

Satou shrugged. "Someone used shaving cream to write "thou shalt not be a coward" on his chest."

Shiratori snorted. "Strange. Is that all?"

Satou accepted the coffee Takagi set before her with a nod of thanks and the two exchanged significant looks. Taking the third chair, Takagi cleared his throat, tugging uncomfortably at the collar of his dress shirt. "We got called over to a hostage situation at this elementary school."

Shiratori stiffened in dismay, but bit back any questions when Satou raised a placating hand, mouthing for him to let the other detective finish.

"The negotiations weren't going so well at first, and then…" Takagi trailed off, giving his head a shake as though to clear his thoughts. "Then the children were just _there_ with us and the man had no more hostages."

Shiratori stared.

"When we got back to our car," Satou continued, "we found that child who disappeared last week, you know, the doctor who called about those blackmail letters? And there was a note pinned to the kid's vest telling us where we could find the blackmailers, which the kid helped us identify."

The older man opened his mouth, shut it again, and downed half of his remaining drink. "At least I'm not the only one who's having an unusual day."

"Maybe we just got lucky," Takagi suggested.

They thought about this for a moment and unanimously dismissed this possibility. Lucky was just not a word you used to describe detectives in the Beika division.

More footsteps announced the arrival of the most famous member of said division and, sure enough, Shinichi stepped into the room seconds later. He glanced around at the mostly empty office in confusion then approached the three detectives seated around the table.

"What's going on?" he asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

"Well," Shiratori drawled, "not _wrong_ exactly."

"What do you mean? And why are you three just sitting here?"

"That's the thing," Satou burst out, tapping her fingers restlessly upon the tabletop. "We don't have anymore cases that need working on today."

Shinichi stared. "What about that bank robbery from yesterday? And the break-in at that jewelry store?"

Mutely, Takagi picked up a stack of folders and passed it to him. "All closed, all murderers accounted for. We even found all the jewelry."

Shinichi flipped through the files, his eyebrows moving higher on his forehead each time he paused to reread something or stare at a photograph. Finally, he shut the last file and laid it back upon the table. Without another word, he pivoted on his heel and marched out of the station, pulling his cell phone from his pocket as he went.

The person on the other end picked up almost before the first ring had even begun. "Shin-chan! To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Kaito, you spent all night looking through my case files," he said accusingly, "and using my notes to run around after possible killers without telling me."

He'd wondered why the magician had never gone to bed last night. Kaito never needed a lot of sleep, but that didn't usually mean skipping bed altogether—especially not when Shinichi was in it. And he hadn't been aware of any new heists.

"I was careful," Kaito protested. "You said you'd be free to do whatever this evening if you finished your work in time. I was just helping the process along."

Shinichi rolled his eyes, but he couldn't really be angry. As long as Kaito wasn't hurt, "Just don't ever do that again without telling me, okay? What if something had gone wrong?"

"I won't do it again without telling you. Promise," Kaito assured him, a hint of guilt creeping into his voice. He was, after all, always telling Shinichi not to do the same thing.

"Right." Letting out his breath in a sigh, the detective glanced down at his watch then up at the sky which was rapidly darkening with rainclouds. "Um, do you think you could come pick me up?"

.

Shinichi woke to the sound of Kaito singing various popular songs under his breath, his voice slipping almost reflexively into flawless imitations of their original performers. Still somewhat drowsy, Shinichi lay with his eyes closed, listening for awhile before blindly reaching out to tug at his companion's sleeve. Kaito paused, running a hand through the detective's sleep-disheveled hair. "Shin-chan?"

"M' like your own voice better," Shinichi mumbled, snuggling deeper into the warmth of the blankets.

Kaito chuckled and replied with a soft rendition of the song he'd sung for him at the magicians' club gathering. It felt like such a long time ago. Shinichi remembered feeling more than a little mortified then, but now, it brought a sleepy smile to his face. Kaito was probably rubbing off on him.

Finally, the song drew to a close and Kaito fell silent for a few moments before speaking. "Mom's coming back in a few days. I spoke with her over the phone yesterday. She says she'd rather take her chances, even if Snake's still out there. It doesn't seem likely that he'd be mad enough to go after her and she misses home."

Shinichi's stomach dropped. It took a second before he answered, "So what are you going to do?"

Kaito's fingers stilled in his hair and Shinichi knew without having to look that the magician was studying him with that pensive, impassive expression he always wore when he wasn't certain about things—things that were important to him. "What do you want me to do?"

Shinichi mumbled something.

"What was that? You know you're being way too quiet when even I can't hear you."

"I said that I want you to stay—if you want to."

Kaito smiled and lay down so he could pull Shinichi against him. "I'll be more than happy to. I thought you would know that by now."

It was Shinichi he hadn't been entirely sure about. Being able to communicate and understand one another without words was all well and good, but some things still needed to be said out loud.

"Goodnight, Shinichi."

"Goodnight… Um, Kaito?"

"Hmm?"

Shinichi took a deep breath, struggling to stamp down the rising embarrassment because, _damn it_, he had to say it at least once. "I love you."

There was a startled silence and then Kaito's arms tightened around him and Shinichi could just _hear _the ecstatic happiness in his voice when he replied, which really made it all worth it. "Love you too."

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, V On the Big Screen – **_Us? Make a movie? You've got to be joking…_**) **

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**AN:** Thank you for reading and please review!


	8. V On the Big Screen

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 8 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

**AN**: Eh, this chapter was written pretty much purely for my own enjoyment (i.e. not really related to the overall plot except that it's a part of life). In any case, on to the story!

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

**

* * *

**

**V**

**On the Big Screen**

"A movie?"

"Yeah, one of the really big studios is holding a contest for amateur film artists. Think about it, if we can manage to get into the top three, we'll all get to be on TV!" Sonoko clasped her hands in front of her and favored everyone in the room with a pleading look. "Come on, it's not like any of us are really busy right now."

"Well," Ran said thoughtfully, "I suppose it could be fun. I say we give it a try."

Shinichi wanted to protest but he could already tell Kaito was intrigued by the idea and the magician would probably drag them all into it one way or another. There wasn't much point in trying to fight it.

Heiji shrugged. "Hey, I'm game. But what kind of movie are we talking about?"

"Well," Shinichi sighed, "I'd say that considering this particular group, we're most qualified to write about murders."

"Oh please," Sonoko scoffed, "you've got to have more than _that. _A good movie's got to have some romance!"

Shinichi blanched. As far as he was concerned, they definitely weren't in the best positions to talk about _that_.

"Why don't we make a list?" Ran suggested. "That way, everyone gets a say, and we'll have a movie that appeals to everyone."

"Or no one," Hakuba muttered, but stopped when Aoko whacked him.

"I think that's a great idea, Ran," she said brightly, pulling out a pen and a notepad from her bag. "Let's see—murder, romance, maybe a few good fight scenes. What else?"

"This is starting to sound like some demented soap opera," Heiji grumbled. Still, it _could_ be fun. "I volunteer for the fight scenes."

"It's a bit early to be assigning parts since we don't even have a story," Kazuha reminded him. "How about a curse? I was reading a story set in medieval Europe for English class and that was the only real interesting part."

"Oh," Sonoko squealed in delight, "a medieval romance story. That's so completely awesome! I so want to write the script, please?"

_No, no, no,_ Shinichi prayed desperately in his mind, _please don't let Sonoko write the script_.

Ran smiled. "Sure."

He groaned and resisted the urge to burry his face in his hands. This was going to be a long few months.

Over the next week, half the cast waited in excited anticipation for the production to begin and the other half waited in dread. Shinichi couldn't imagine what kind of story Sonoko was going to force on them—or actually, maybe he _could_ and therein lay the problem.

"What are you reading?" Kaito asked from behind him.

Shinichi jumped and dropped the book he'd been reading—which Kaito deftly snatched out of the air. Tossing it up and catching it again right-side-up, he scanned a few lines and raised his eyebrows. "Why are you reading medieval romance novels? Don't tell me you've suddenly developed an interest."

"Of course not," Shinichi snapped, snatching the book back and flushing. "If you must know, I'm trying to be prepared. No way am I going to let Sonoko catch me by surprise."

Kaito laughed, flopping onto the couch next to him. "You're _that_ worried?"

"And what if I am? You don't know her like I do." He paused and reconsidered this then amended, "or at least, you haven't spent years listening to her rant about people's love lives."

"No, but I can imagine." Adjusting his position so he could pull the detective against him and rest his chin on the top of his head, he peered down at the open pages. "So, what have you found out?"

They spent the next few hours engrossed in the strangest conversation they had ever had to date as they tried to figure out what kind of story Sonoko would create. The kinds of characters seemed fairly straightforward, but then the girl's mind did tend to work in strange ways when it came to stories. In a lot of ways, she was just as much of a dramatic as Kaito, only worse because you knew she wasn't just acting.

At last, Friday rolled around again and the group gathered in a park not too far from the Beika train station. Shinichi and Hakuba took up residence on a park bench, silent in shared trepidation while they watched Kaito wander about the playground using the monkey bars like balance beams. At least he made a good distraction, though passing parents tended to give him odd looks and then usher their children away with great speed.

"Do you think we should stop him?" Hakuba asked finally, watching Kaito pull a series of rather dangerous stunts. "I think he's scaring people."

Shinichi grunted, his gaze darting around the park once more as if half expecting Sonoko to leap out at them brandishing the script. "He's not in danger and he's not hurting anyone. I don't see a problem."

He wasn't exactly in the mood to be charitable.

"I suppose."

When everyone had finally arrived and Kaito had joined them by the bench, Sonoko pulled a thick packet of papers from her purse and grinned—evilly, Shinichi decided—handing them around as she explained. "So, here's what we've got…"

It turned out that their predictions had been largely correct. There were knights and princesses, a prince and an evil enchanter, and even a magic gemstone on a pendant that promised the power to bring people back from the dead. People got kidnapped and the characters would be going on an adventure to discover past plots and betrayals, and the heroine would eventually win over the heart of the villain and save the kingdom. Actually, it could have been much worse. It might have been a bit cliché at points and her lack of story writing experience showed, but not as prominently as one might have feared. And aside from that, the dialogue flowed rather well and there were several fairly good scenes, even if the idea of having to take part in it made Shinichi cringe.

Assigning roles was easy. It was obvious Sonoko had written her script with the different members of their cast in mind, which was probably a good thing as it had already been established that acting wasn't exactly their general forte. And Aoko would direct the production while filling in any minor parts they needed.

Long after the group had split up, Shinichi continued to sit on the park bench, staring at the script he had been given. He was supposed to be memorizing his lines, but he just couldn't seem to dredge up the energy to start.

"It's not that bad," Kaito said cheerfully, dropping down beside him—he'd been sitting in the boughs of the tree behind him during the talk. "I think royalty's perfect for you."

"What is that supposed to mean? You're the one running around in a suit acting like some knight."

"Well," Kaito drawled, grinning, "princes aren't always known for their humility and good manners. All you need to do is pick up some of that old arrogance and that cold way you look at murderers and you're set."

Lifting his eyes from the paper, Shinichi glared at him. "That's not funny."

"I was being serious! Well, _partly_ serious anyway."

Shinichi shook his head and returned his glower to the script. "And you're sure you want to play the villain?"

"Yup. Should be fun, a change of pace if you will."

"You mean a coldblooded enchanter instead of a mischievous magician?"

"Something like that."

"I still have a bad feeling about all of this."

"You worry too much, Shin-chan. This is supposed to be for fun. You're over thinking things. If you're worried about playing your part, let's go home and I'll help you practice. I could even _be_ you and show you how it's done."

"But what about you?"

"It shouldn't take me too long to memorize my lines. And, well, I'm always practicing."

"…Fine. Let's go. But please, no impersonating me. It's creepy."

Really, once you discounted his general reluctance to be doing this at all, learning his part wasn't as hard as he might have thought. Sonoko had done a good job tailoring the characters to fit their available members, except perhaps on the part of Kaito. But if anyone could play the convincing villain in the group, the magician would have to be it. The hardest part, as it turned out, was making time for all of them to get together so they could actually rehearse and do the filming...

.

"You're an _hour _late," Kazuha growled, smacking Heiji upside the head. "Kuroba-kun had to stand in for you! You could have at least called!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I got a little caught up. You won't believe what happened. My luck's just been totally rotten today!"

Kazuha pulled back, resting her hands on her hips and regarding him with some confusion. "Your luck?"

"Yeah." Lowering the arms he'd been using to protect his head, the detective from Osaka grumbled, "First, I was just leaving my house when some car almost ran me over. Someone had poisoned the driver—his own brother as it turned out, and all over some girl they both liked. Then a _tree _fell on someone at the train station—and of _course_ it couldn't be an accident. And when I finally got to Tokyo, I overheard some lady being blackmailed about her daughter."

Kazuha's mouth was open in a silent "oh" and she moved to pat his shoulder a little guiltily. "Well then, I'm glad you made the effort. I guess one hour's not too bad all considered."

Kaito snorted. "Last week it was Shinichi, and the week before that it was Hakuba. You know, if people weren't dying and getting hurt, I'd be laughing my head off at the three of you right now. You must have the worst luck of anyone I know."

"For once, I have to agree with Kuroba." Hakuba let out a longsuffering sigh.

.

…But in the end, despite all the setbacks and mistakes and complaints, a month later they were out in the countryside, finally ready to try and film an actual scene.

"Wow," Ran breathed in delight, peering up at the place Sonoko had found for their first act. "This place really looks like a castle."

Her friend grinned smugly. "Well of _course_. We have to have the best if we want this production to be a success. And get this, we get to stay here as long as we need to finish the filming."

"I'm still not so sure about this costume," Kazuha said, plucking at the shimmering folds of her golden ball gown.

"Don't worry," Ran assured her, "you look beautiful. Now come on, the boys should already be in there. We have to rehearse before the filming tonight."

Sonoko clapped her hands and led the way up the gravel path. "I can't wait! Let's get started!"

.

_The windows of the palace blazed with light so bright that even the gardens outside seemed to shine in their reflections upon the lake. It was the one hundredth year anniversary of the Hatomi Family's assention to the throne and people all across the kingdom were rejoicing in the peace and prosperity of the last few decades. Yet despite the feasting and the celebrations, not everyone was happy. _

_Queen Kazuha hadn't touched a single morsel on her plate all night. Her hands kept fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist, a golden chain set with precious stones rather than the jade one she usually wore. _

"_My dear, is something wrong?" _

_Glancing up into the worried face of her husband, she bit her lip. "I only wish I knew. I just have a bad feeling about tonight." _

"_Another dream?" _

"_It's more the fact that I didn't have any dreams that bothers me," she admitted, her fingers tightening on the metallic links of her bracelet. "And earlier, when I was getting ready for the celebration, my bracelet shattered. The jade one my mother gave me. It's supposed to mean bad luck when jade breaks." _

_King Hattori frowned. He knew that his wife had always been a superstitious woman, but the fact remained that her mother had been a witch. _

"_Do you want me to stop the festivities?" _

_Still frowning to herself, Kazuha sighed and shook her head. "Oh, I don't know. It's just this feeling like there's so much darkness on the horizon, like I can't see what's ahead of us. But it's not—this." _

_She waved her hands to indicate the brightly lit hall around them filled with their guests. "Maybe… Maybe I'm just being paranoid. I guess it wouldn't be the first time." _

_Yet despite what she told him, Kazuha couldn't shake the feeling that something somewhere just wasn't right. _

_At one of the tables set around the dance floor, Ran Hatomi watched her mother leave the Great Hall with a furrow in her brow. _

"_Sister?" _

_Blinking several times as if to clear her vision, Ran shook her head. "It's nothing. I thought I saw something is all. Excuse me, but I need to talk to Father." _

_A young man passing their table paused to watch her go. "Is the princess all right?" _

_Shinichi gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm sure she's fine. She's only just started lessons in magic, so she's been on edge a lot. I hear that it happens to all magic practitioners in the beginning." _

"_Yes, I suppose it does." _

_Shinichi hesitated, his smile fading a little. There was something about the other's expression that sent an odd shiver down his spine, though he couldn't seem to pinpoint it. _

_Perhaps sensing his sudden discomfort, the man offered him a charming smile. "I dabble a bit in magic myself. I was just remembering how awkward it can be at first, especially for those who are born with power." _

_The prince blinked, feeling oddly confused, but then magic did have a way of making people confusing. "Of course. I suppose I can't really say as I've never had much interest in magic myself, nor any aptitude for it." _

_His companion nodded thoughtfully, accepting a glass from a passing servant and taking a sip of the clear, golden liquid. "Some would probably consider that for the best." _

"_What do you mean?" _

"_Only that magic can be a…dangerous creature, even to those who claim to tame it." With that cryptic remark, the young man set his now empty glass upon the table and nodded to Shinichi. "If you'll excuse me…" _

_And he moved away, the light from the chandeliers above seeming only to emphasize the pitch black of his clothes. _

_Out on the balcony, Kazuha rested her hands lightly upon the railing. What had her mother told her the day she'd given her that jade bracelet? The old queen had looked at her daughter with those knowing eyes of hers that always seemed to hold a hint of fear far behind them, fear and maybe a touch of sadness. _

"_Why are you afraid?" she'd asked her mother then. _

_And the old queen had answered, "Because all I can see now is darkness. I am afraid that…but it's too late to go back. No one has the power to change the past." _

_What had her mother meant? Kazuha had never been able to figure out. _

"_So the witch's blood still lives on after all." _

_The cold, impassive voice cut through the faint sounds of the party drifting through the balcony door and Kazuha gasped, spinning around to face it. For a moment, she could make out nothing in the darkness. Then someone stepped from the shadows beside the balcony archway, the figure obscured by the folds of a heavy cape and the features half hidden by a hood pulled low. _

_Her eyes narrowing, the queen lifted her hands which glowed faintly with traces of emerald light. "Who are you?" _

_The stranger took a step closer, unperturbed by her display of power. Indeed, it seemed to amuse him more than anything. "I'm just a lonely soul seeking retribution." _

"_Retribution?" _

"_For a century-old mistake." _

_As he spoke, the stranger lifted his hands and Kazuha could see the raven crest embroidered in gold upon his black gloves. Her eyes flew wide in fear and disblief. "You're—but that's impossible." _

"_Why? Because I should be dead?" The stranger chuckled darkly. "Don't believe everything you're told in history class, your Majesty, you never know what it might cost you. But that doesn't matter now. Your part in this is almost over." _

_Crimson light blazed in a circle upon the stone beneath her feet, catching hold of her even as she tried to throw herself away from it. For a brief moment, emerald light blazed around her but it was quickly overwhelmed by red. And as her vision blurred, she could only pray desperately that her family would be all right. _

_For a moment, the enchanter simply gazed coolly down at the collapsed figure of the sleeping queen, the corners of his lips twisted in a hint of disdain. Then he pulled his black cloak around him and both figures vanished in a swirl of darkness. _

Sonoko squealed, clasping her hands excitedly in front of her. "Ooh, Kazuha-san, you were _wonderful_. And Kuroba makes the part seem so _real_."

"I know," Kazuha agreed, laughing a little, though it sounded more relieved than anything that the scene was over. "I hardly had to pretend to be nervous. Kuroba-kun, maybe you should think about becoming an actor."

For some reason, this suggestion made Kaito throw his head back and laugh long and hard. The girls stared at him in utter confusion.

"What did we say?"

Shinichi coughed. "Let's just say he's already an actor and leave it at that."

.

Morning found the cast gathered in their makeshift staff room eating breakfast.

"Okay, seriously," Heiji said, dropping his script on the table beside his plate and frowning across at Sonoko, "I've been looking at this scene all night and it just doesn't make any sense. You're telling me that Kazuha gets kidnapped by this evil enchanter character who wants me to give him some magic gem called the Resurrection Stone in seven days in exchange for her _life_—a stone which I don't actually know I _have_—and I'm _not _allowed to go after her? That's crazy!"

"But you're supposed to be the king! You can't just go running off. It would be irresponsible."

Heiji glowered, gesturing with his fork. "Then I'll abdicate or something. Aren't kings supposed to have advisors? Can't one of them run the kingdom while I'm gone? Come to think of it, aren't you supposed to be a knight? _You_ could be in charge while I'm gone."

Neither of them noticed the shudder that went around the room while the others tried to imagine what a kingdom run by Sonoko Suzuki would be like.

Folding her arms across her chest, Sonoko frowned. "But it just wouldn't work. I mean, look at the scene!"

Heiji looked.

_The message—threat—shone in lines of crimson fire that traced out each letter upon the floor even as they watched. _

_Shinichi frowned, kneeling to examine the words left etched into the stone when the light finally faded. "But I thought the Resurrection Stone was just a myth. A jewel with the power to bring back the dead? That shouldn't even be possible." _

"_That's not important right now though, is it?" The king scowled, clenching and unclenching his fists. He should have been paying attention, should have tried to stop this from happening. "What's important is that he believes it's real and that we have it." _

"_I wonder why though," Ran murmured, joining Shinichi by the message and lightly running her fingers across one, engraved letter. "Father, I think I might be able to use this to track him, maybe find out where he's taken her. Spells always leave a signature of sorts." _

"_Do it." _

_The princess nodded and laid her hands palm flat upon the floor. _

Heiji frowned back up at Sonoko. "I don't see what the problem is."

Leaning over the table, Sonoko jabbed a finger impatiently at a point further down the page. "Ran casts her finding spell, but Kuroba-kun anticipated that and made it so she found two possible locations, not one. See? Two. One for the prince to check out and one for the princess."

"So make it three places then."

Sonoko sniffed. "Fine, we'll make it three. But I didn't plan for a third place and we don't have the screen time to cover it anyway, so you'll just have to get lost on the way there or something and eventually join up with Ran."

"Great, so I'll be reduced to the comedy relief."

"Your choice."

"Damn. Fine, lost it is. At least I'll be trying. More respectable than sitting around waiting."

It was the first change they made in the story, but Shinichi strongly suspected it wouldn't be the last. He'd caught Kaito studying his own copy of the script last night with a speculative, hooded look that he usually reserved for planning new pranks. Or maybe it was planning out the stage design and special effects that had him so preoccupied. Shinichi had yet to make up his mind.

"Right then everyone, let's get back to work!"

.

The early morning tranquility was broken by the piercing cry of a hawk as it circled high above the castle. Hakuba leaned against the railing of one of the lower level balconies, gazing a little morosely out across the rolling landscape of the countryside. It might have been interesting to go for the view from an even higher balcony, but any higher up and he'd run the risk of running into Kuroba who seemed to have a fancy for high places.

Someone cleared her throat behind him and he looked around to find Ran. "Mouri-san? May I help you with something?"

Ran grinned. It was kind of amusing how the British detective was still so painfully polite after so many weeks of working together. "I was wondering if you wanted to practice together. We have the next big scene, remember?"

"How could I forget?"

"You really hate this, don't you?"

Hakuba sighed deeply, lifting his arm as Watson swooped back to land on his heavily padded wrist. "No, not as such. I think I still can't believe I agreed to do this."

"Because of the story or just because?"

"Both probably."

Laughing, Ran moved to rest her elbows on the balcony beside him. "I think it's kind of cool—all of us putting this together, getting to play a witch especially when Kuroba-kun's special effects make it look so real."

"I never could see the appeal of that."

"Well, it's magic, right? It lets us dream."

"This from the person enacting the part of the princess descended from a witch that used her powers to betray and destroy an entire royal household."

"Hey! I'm sure you've heard the saying, it's not weapons that kill people, it's people who do that."

"Of course." Letting out another sigh, Hakuba straightened. "And if we're going to pull off this production, we should do it properly. I would be happy to practice with you."

The bird still on his arm half unfurled its wings when he moved before shifting its grip on him and settling back down again. Noting Ran watching with curiosity, Hakuba hesitated then hefted the hawk, gesturing with his free hand, "Um, would you like to hold her?"

.

It was amazing what some art supplies, a bit of ingenuity, and extensive experience in making things look authentically unlike their original selves could do, Shinichi marveled. They had all come down that morning to find the bottom floor of the castle utterly transformed and a very smug Kaito waiting to greet them. What had once served as their palace now looked like an ancient fortress that had long ago been besieged and never repaired. And even the detectives would have been hard pressed to identify it as the same place they had done their previous scenes.

"I hope the actual owners won't mind," Aoko mused, impressed despite herself. She'd been worrying about where they were going to film the mountain stronghold, there not really being any mountains nearby and none of their members likely to have any spare castles stashed away. They had had enough trouble driving out the day before to somewhere with enough trees to look like the forest where the cynical hunter played by Hakuba was supposed to run into the princess and tell her the legend of the witch and the death-defying jewel. Five hours of being cooped up in a car with a bored Kaito hadn't been fun for anyone, and that was only one way. The five hours back, many of them exhausted from the long day's work, had been more akin to hell.

"Don't worry," Kaito assured her,  
once I clean it up, no one will know this ever existed."

_Though it had looked like a mountain cave from the outside, Shinichi found himself wandering through a network of corridors that had definitely been crafted by hand. The place was like a fortress, though it had obviously not been lived in for a very long time. Here and there, the stone walls had been scorched black by fire and the remains of furniture were scattered throughout the rooms he passed through. _

_And yet… _

_And yet there was no dust, no dirt—none of the debris you usually found in long abandoned buildings. _

_Pausing, Shinichi ran his finger along some grooves in the wall, and sure enough, it came away clean. Dark as it was, it took him a moment to realize that the grooves were actually part of a carving of a giant raven. _

_At least it seemed like he'd come to the right place. _

_Loosening his sword in its scabbard, Shinichi made his way deeper into the maze of corridors. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of creeping through the darkness, he came to a vast chamber dimly lit by the white light that blazed down from the crystals embedded in the ceiling. _

"_Mother!" Dropping the lantern he'd been using to guide his way, Shinichi ran to the woman lying propped against the far wall. Falling to his knees beside her, he shook her by the shoulders but got no response. "Mother?" _

"_So you're the one who was sent here. Unfortunate for you really, since you won't be leaving here now." _

_Shinichi started at the smooth, cold voice and turned to glare into the darkness of the archway, only to gasp when he recognized the young man from the anniversary celebration. "You!" _

"_So you remember me. Should I be flattered?" _

"_What have you done to her?" _

_The enchanter lifted an eyebrow at the question. "The queen? Nothing. She's merely asleep for now. If your father delivers the Resurrection Stone to me in time, I'll wake her. Maybe." _

_Shinichi's hand clenched on the hilt of his sword, but before he could draw it, the enchanter's voice cut through the tense silence once more. _

"_I wouldn't do that if I were you. Even if, by some miracle of chance, you managed to kill me, you wouldn't be able to leave with her. The moment you stepped across my threshold, you were caught. I'm the only one who can let you out of this place." _

_For a second, Shinichi's hand continued to linger on his weapon then he dropped it back to his side and scowled at his feet. It wouldn't do any good to waste his energy on a pointless battle. "Why are you doing this?" _

"_Why?" The enchanter was suddenly right in front of him, the darkness of the hallway seeming to follow at his feet. He lifted Shinichi's head with a finger under his chin so he had to look into his eyes and favored him with a thin-lipped smile that did not reach his icy gaze. "Do you know where we are, your Highness?" _

_Taking a short step back, Kaito spread his arms out to indicate the dark hallways around them. "It looks like a fortress, doesn't it? And that is what it used to be. But for a hundred years now, it has been nothing but a tomb." _

_He didn't raise his voice, but as he continued, the look in his eyes seemed to grow even colder. "The tomb of the house which used to rule this land before your ancestors came along. It should have been my tomb too, but I didn't die that day. I have always been…lucky." _

_His lips twisted with the last word as though in private, sarcastic amusement. "And now, I intend to take back what I lost and what should never have belonged to you. It's as simple as that." _

_And he walked away, leaving the young prince pale and struggling to suppress the shivers. _

As the scene drew to a close, everyone stood in stunned silence. It was several moments until the cameramen remembered to stop recording.

"That," Hakuba said finally, "was creepy."

Shinichi heartily agreed, slight chills still racing up and down his spine. It disturbed him a little that he hadn't had to act at all to seem afraid. The magician's eyes had been so _cold, _so full of _hate _that it made his insides knot up just to remember it.

It reminded him of the way Kaito looked when he talked about Snake.

They concluded the filming early that day and went their separate ways. Shinichi remained quiet the entire way back to their room, earning him more than a few worried and confused looks from Kaito. The moment the door shut behind them, he tugged the magician over to the couch, sat him down and settled himself in his lap, tugging Kaito's arms up around him. Surprised but more than happy to oblige, Kaito hugged him close and rested his chin on his shoulder.

"Shin-chan?"

"You're too good at acting," Shinichi mumbled at last after several long seconds of silence. "I didn't like you looking at me like that."

Kaito's arms tightened around him when he realized what he was talking about. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Shinichi mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning back against him. "I'm just being ridiculous."

Kaito hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head to nibble on the shell of his ear. "Well actually, now that you mention it, there were a few alterations I was hoping we could make to the script."

When Kaito presented the idea of making further and rather more extensive alterations the next morning, Sonoko was a bit miffed. But after the magician pulled her aside for a talk, she agreed to any changes he wanted with a wide grin.

"What did you tell her?" Shinichi asked warily, following his boyfriend into the staff room.

Kaito made himself a cup of hot chocolate and took a sip before answering. "That I'd get you to get her KID's autograph."

"…I should have guessed." Shinichi snorted and leaned back against the counter next to him. "So are you going to tell me what you wanted to change?"

"You'll know soon enough."

"You know I hate these kinds of surprises."

"And I love them," Kaito said happily. He took another swig of his hot chocolate then set it down and moved so he was standing in front of the detective. Leaning forward, he placed his hands on the counter on either side of his prey—er, partner—and grinned. "But no worries. I'm sure I can come up with some way to distract you."

Minutes later, Ran's slightly exasperated voice rang through the halls. "Shinichi? Shinichi, you're needed on the set! Has anyone seen Shinichi?"

"I think I saw him go into the staff room."

Stalking up to the staff room door, Ran slid the door open.

"Shinichi! We were…" Ran trailed off then shut the door and turned around. "Er, let's do the next scene first. We'll only need Hakuba and Watson for that."

Heiji raised his eyebrows, peering curiously around her at the door. "Why? Isn't he in there?"

"He is, and so is Kaito."

"So?"

"They're in there _together_. Alone."

The detective blinked. _Oh. _

Flushing dark red, he spun on his heels and hurried back down the corridor, pulling Ran with him. "Right, let's go find Hakuba."

.

In the end, what had been an ordinary medieval romance became more of a twisted, semi-comedic, semi-horrific adventure where the evil enchanter who kidnapped the queen turned out to have been possessed by the darkness of the Resurrection Stone he claimed to seek, a magical jewel which had also taken control of a witch a hundred years before to destroy the most powerful magical bloodline at the time. It fed off tragedy and sought to control those who came in contact with it through the darkness in their hearts. The king abandoned his throne to chase after his wife along with his son and daughter. A knight with a love of dramatic romance and a penchant for organizing other people's private lives had to take up the running of the country until the return of the royal family. And instead of falling in love with the princess and deciding to give up his dreams of revenge, the enchanter fell in love with the prince. And they decided together to find and destroy the stone, because you could only really live for the living and not the dead.

And when everything was said and done, Shinichi supposed they did all have quite a lot of fun. He'd never want to go through the entire fiasco again, but it had been a good start to living life again, a good place for new beginnings—one of which none of them found out about until the very last day after the party to celebrate the first screening of their production.

The girls had decided to finish off the evening with a trip to a popular dessert shop in the mall. And as they left, Heiji noticed that Hakuba seemed oddly interested in something on his phone.

"It's nothing," the blond detective said quickly in response to his question, stuffing his cell phone hurriedly in the pocket of his coat.

"Nothing, huh? As if we're going to buy that. Who just texted you? I can tell you're trying not to smile."

Hakuba scowled, but before he could retort, Kaito's voice sang out through the night air. "See you tomorrow at six, signed Ran. Ooh, are you two going on a _date_?"

"Kuroba!" He snarled and lunged for his phone which Kaito had somehow filched from him without his notice in the two seconds his hands hadn't been on it. "Give that back!"

The magician just laughed, dancing out of his reach before tossing the object in question back to its furiously blushing owner. Bouncing over to Shinichi who was studying his fellow detective with a thoughtful look, Kaito draped himself over his shoulders and leaned in to murmur in a stage whisper so that Hakuba couldn't help but overhear, "Hey, Shin-chan, think maybe we can tag along and watch? It's bound to be a good show."

"Maybe."

"No spying!"

"Who said anything about spying?"

.

Settled on the couch in front of the television, Ran took another bite of popcorn, her gaze slipping sidelong to Hakuba who was just returning from the kitchen with a fresh cup of tea. "Are they gone yet?"

The detective nodded just slightly, sinking down beside her. "Yes. All six of them."

"Well, that took longer than I thought it would," Ran observed, accepting the teacup he offered her with a smile. "We managed to re-watch almost the entire movie."

"I still can't believe we helped make that," Hakuba muttered, glancing back at the television before quickly looking away. "Is Kuroba _actually_ kissing him for real on camera?"

"I think so."

"And Kudou _didn't_ _mind_?"

"…I think Shinichi had other things on his mind."

Taking pity on her obviously embarrassed companion, Ran switched off the television and stood up. "So…where are we going?"

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, IV Family Affairs **_– Shinichi always knew his parents were abnormal…l_**) **

* * *

**AN:** It didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. The next two chapters will be more serious again. Thank you for reading and please review!


	9. IV Family Affairs

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 9 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

**

* * *

**

**IV**

**Family Affairs**

The sky had only just begun to turn gray when the cell phone on the bedside table began to buzz. His mind still half befuddled with sleep, it took Shinichi a moment to realize what had woken him, and even then he was terribly tempted just to ignore it. He was used to getting calls at unholy hours but he'd gotten back late from a case the night before and he was warm and comfortable with his back to Kaito's chest and the magician's arm wrapped loosely about his waist. Maybe if he just ignored it, the caller would give up and call again when the sun was properly in the sky. This decided, Shinichi shut his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but mere seconds after the buzzing stopped, it started up again. With an irritated sigh, he snaked one arm out from under the warm covers to retrieve his cell phone and flip it open.

"Hello?"

"Shin-chan!"

At the sound of that overly enthusiastic voice, Shinichi groaned. "What do you want?"

"Is that any way to talk to your mother, young man?"

The detective rolled his eyes. "What do you expect me to say when you wake me up at," he paused to peer blearily at the alarm clock on the nightstand, "four o' clock in the morning?"

"Oh, you're such a spoilsport sometimes, Shin-chan. Anyways, your father and I saw you on television the other day. You didn't tell me you'd decided to take up acting!"

"That's because I haven't. That movie was just something Ran and Sonoko wanted to do."

"Oh."

He could just imagine the pout on Yukiko's face from the disappointment so painfully obvious in her voice. He rather suspected that if he hadn't always been so terrible at acting, his actress mother would have pushed and pulled him into the profession somehow. She could be annoyingly stubborn like that. Come to think of it, everyone in his family seemed to be like that, stubborn, smart, and a little bit crazy—except him, of course.

"Is that all?"

"Well," his mother drawled, "not exactly…"

"Yes?" Living with Kaito had long since taught Shinichi patience.

"Your father and I are at the airport right now, only our luggage got misplaced and seems to still be somewhere in America—or was it sent to France? I can't remember. Anyways, we were hoping you could come and pick us up?"

She said all this in a rush and Shinichi had to take a few moments to sort out her words. When he had, he fervently wished he could just burrow back under his blankets and stay there until his parents left again. He loved them, he really did, but they weren't exactly easy people to deal with, and now there was Kaito to add to the equation as well. Speaking of the magician, Shinichi glanced sidelong at him, wondering if he was really still asleep or faking it. You never could tell with Kaito.

He had yet to introduce the magician to his parents. Would they disapprove? Would they even get along? He hadn't really considered it before and now that he had, he felt a little anxious. But they would have to meet one another sooner or later as the magician was quite firmly in his life to stay. Perhaps this was as good a time as any to break the ice. Besides, if his parents had watched the movie, they would no doubt suspect.

"All right," he said reluctantly, levering himself into a sitting position. "I'll be there in maybe half an hour."

After he'd hung up, Kaito's voice broke the silence. "Your parents?"

Faking it then, apparently.

"Yeah, they want me to go pick them up from the airport. Do you want to come?"

"Most definitely."

"Better get up and get dressed then."

Five minutes later they were in the car and speeding towards the airport. Shinichi sat in the passenger seat nursing a thermos of coffee. On the one hand, it was slightly unfair how Kaito could be so energetic in the morning without the aid of caffeine. On the other hand, it meant that Shinichi could just let Kaito handle everything and take his time waking up. Hell, if he put aside his embarrassment, Kaito could even dress them both in less time than most people took to dress themselves, probably a skill he'd picked up from having to change so quickly from disguise to disguise on his heists.

They spotted his parents almost immediately upon stepping through the doors to the baggage claim-or rather, his parents spotted them. Shinichi had a split second's warning to brace himself in the form of an excited shriek then a woman slammed into him, squeezing the air out of him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Shin-chan! It's been so long!"

His mother pulled away to smile at him before turning her attention to Kaito who was standing a few paces away. Her smile widened and she moved to pull him into a hug as well.

"Kuroba Kaito, isn't it? You've grown so much since the last time I saw you."

Kaito blinked. "Um, hi. Have we met before?"

Yukiko pulled back and winked. "A long time ago, yes. Your father was my teacher."

Light dawned in Kaito's eyes. "Ah, yes, I remember now. You're that lady who got so riled up when I—er, never mind. It _has_ been awhile, hasn't it?"

Shinichi looked away from this exchange when his father cleared his throat beside him.

Yusaku raised an eyebrow and gestured significantly at Kaito. "I presume you two are…?"

Blushing, Shinichi looked away and mumbled something under his breath.

"Shinichi?"

"I said yes."

The novelist just nodded and smiled faintly in that knowing, slightly irritating way of his that his son had inherited in his detective work. It made Shinichi wonder what was on his mind, though considering the circumstances, he wasn't sure he actually wanted to know.

Instead, he raised his voice so he knew his mother could hear him and asked, "So are you ready to go home?"

"Oh, well—actually," Yukiko said slowly, "we're not going home."

Shinichi stopped and blinked. "You're not?"

"_We're_ not," Yukiko repeated brightly. "Your father just got a call from a friend of his about a mystery writers' convention at a mountain resort and we thought it'd be a great opportunity for the whole family to spend some time together. And of course, Kaito-kun is welcome to come too. We made sure to make reservations for four."

.

Shinichi didn't exactly have a lot of good memories of going places with his parents. For one thing, they had the annoying habit of surprising him with these outings. And when he said that his mother kidnapped him to accompany her on visits to her friends, he meant it quite literally. He'd fall asleep in his own bed and wake up in the back of a car or, like one incident back while he was Conan, packed onto a motorcycle. He didn't know that much about other people's home lives, but he was pretty sure normal parents didn't do these things to their kids.

At least there was one blessing this time around; Kudou Yukiko was not driving. Yusaku was many things, but at least when he was behind the wheel, everyone else in the car didn't have to worry about being able to get out of the car afterwards.

This freed Yukiko up to talk, which she did with great enthusiasm. Mostly, she and Kaito talked about the movie, about acting and disguises, and about her apprenticeship with Kuroba Toichi, but Shinichi didn't hear most of it because somewhere between hour one and two into the drive, he finally managed to fall back asleep with his head pillowed on Kaito's shoulder.

On the bright side, it seemed that Kaito and his parents were going to get along just fine. Then again, considering Kaito's own unique brand of insanity, Shinichi supposed he should have expected him and his parents to fit right in. Hmm, or was that actually a dark side? Why was it that everyone in his family except for him seemed to be crazy? Or perhaps he was crazy too since he put up with them all.

Shinichi woke with a jolt as the car jerked to a sudden halt. Blinking his eyes open, he peered blearily about, momentarily disoriented by the darkness.

"Kaito?"

The arm resting around his waist responded with a gentle squeeze. "Right here."

"Are we there?"

"Not yet. Looks like we've run into a bit of a road block."

"Huh?"

Just then, his father climbed back into the car and shut the door of the driver seat. "The road sign fell, looks like someone knocked it over. We'd better let them know when we get to the resort so someone can come and fix it."

Stifling a yawn, Shinichi straightened and glanced out the window at the dark woods on either side of the road. It looked like the few hours he'd been asleep had been enough for them to reach the middle of nowhere. On the one hand, it meant they had nowhere to go if they needed to escape from one another—namely his parents. On the other hand, they might actually get some peace and quiet. Idly, Shinichi wondered when he'd started considering time with Kaito peaceful or quiet. He supposed it just went to show that people could get used to almost anything.

It was strange though, Shinichi mused as they finally pulled into a parking lot before a sprawling garden, in the distance over which they could make out several low buildings. This wasn't the kind of place he would have pictured for a writers' convention. An artists' retreat maybe, or a gathering of hermits if the notion itself wasn't so contradictory, but he would have expected a convention to have more people, more noise, more—_something_.

"Hey, you okay? You're not coming down with something are you?"

Pulled out of his contemplations of the almost deserted parking lot, Shinichi shook his head and moved towards the path leading away amidst the flowerbeds towards the main building. "It's nothing."

_Tell you later. _

If there turned out to be anything worth telling.

.

If there was one thing Shinichi would always remember about their room, it was the number of bookshelves it had built into every available space, all stocked solely with mystery novels. Kaito stood in the doorway and gave a low whistle, indigo eyes traveling from the volumes lined up beneath the room's single desk to the books lining the walls and organized by series in glass drawers beneath the bed. "Looks like someone fell in love with a library and decided to bring it home with them."

"They have the entire Sherlock Holmes collection," Shinichi noted in fascination, running his fingers along the spines of several volumes arranged upon the shelf built into the headboard.

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Of course they do. Why am I not surprised? I suppose it's pretty useless to point out that you get enough of that at home?"

"Just fifteen minutes?"

"We have to join everyone for dinner in fifteen minutes."

"I know, and then we'll do whatever you want after that, 'kay?"

"Anything I want, hmm? Well, I can live with that."

Satisfied, Shinichi selected the closest novel and dropped onto the bed, propping himself on his elbows to read. Kaito watched him for a moment then began to saunter around the room, picking up different objects to examine them while juggling a few brightly colored balls absentmindedly with one hand. The detective glanced up at the noise but dropped his gaze again without comment. It was a routine Shinichi had grown very familiar with. By the time Kaito finished his circuit, he would be able to tell him everything about that room in enough detail to be able to recreate it just as it was—where all the exits were as well as all the hiding places and things to watch out for. And Ran complained that Shinichi was paranoid. But then Shinichi wasn't a criminal and didn't have to take jail into consideration. He just hoped they'd be able to flush Snake out soon so Kaito wouldn't have to take it into consideration anymore either.

Shinichi started when Kaito suddenly dropped onto the bed and rolled over so he was half lying on top of him, nuzzling into the back of his neck.

"Kaito? Fifteen minutes, remember? And then there's dinner."

"I know. I'm not going to do anything. I just wanted to let you know that there are a whole lot of security cameras in this room, and I'm pretty sure they're all real. Should we do something about them?"  
Shinichi frowned and turned another page in his book, not looking up from the words though he was no longer reading. "Security cameras?"

"Security cameras, spy cameras, whatever you want to call them. There are two in the corners of the ceiling, one in that plant by the door, a listening device in the desk—you get the idea."

"Well, that seems rather impolite," Shinichi muttered, letting his eyes wander down another page.

"So I'll get rid of them?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Mm, a couple choices. I could make a few tapes, edit them so it won't look like we're always doing the same things every day. Or we could just remove them. I guess it depends on if we care to let whoever set them know that we know."

Shinichi frowned. Why would there be spy cameras in the guest rooms of a writers' convention?

"Let's just get rid of them," Shinichi decided, "and see what happens."

And he'd thought this place was weird before. Well, whatever was going on—and Shinichi had his suspicions—the two of them were not going to get caught up in it.

.

Normally, Kaito liked parties, he did. He wasn't _wild_ about them or anything and there were plenty of other things he liked to do more, but parties were great places for practicing ricks and people-watching. The problem then, of course, arose when he didn't _like_ what he saw.

Seated between Shinichi and Yukiko, Kaito ate without really tasting any of the food. He was too busy watching his detective out of the corner of his eye, or more exactly, all the people who were vying to speak to him. It seemed that Kudou Shinichi was quite popular among the newest generation of mystery writers, and the fact that popular mystery novelist Kudou Yusaku was his father didn't hurt either. Luckily, Kaito was experienced at multitasking and so his own conversations didn't suffer too much. His mind simply stored whatever was said in the back of his mind and his mouth would provide a polite and appropriate response. It helped that halfway through the meal, Shinichi brought up the question of why they were all there.

"This is a mystery convention," the woman seated across from his mother explained brightly, "so we decided to hold it here because of the legends around this place."

"Legends?"

"The original owner of this resort liked to collect old paintings, and it's said that he went out of his way to acquire pieces that were rumored to be cursed. In the end, it's believed that it was his hobby that caused his death—that he disappeared, his soul captured by the painting of a fallen angel."

Shinichi raised his eyebrows in clear skepticism, but the woman only grinned in response.

"Not superstitious?"

"Not usually, no."

"But it's fun sometimes to believe, ne?"

Shinichi gave a noncommittal shrug. Myths and legends were really more Kaito's thing. They were interesting, sure, but it took a lot to make him _believe_ in them.

"Of course he doesn't believe it, Kohana," a young man interrupted, dropping into the chair beside her. "He's a _detective_. And an amazing one. Why don't you tell us about some of your cases, Kudou-san?"

Shinichi frowned a little, prodding at his food. All the attention was starting to make him feel a bit uncomfortable. Recounting old cases had never really been his thing, even before becoming Conan. Explaining the mysteries at the scene of the crime was one thing, but after the mystery had been solved, it always seemed more important to move on.

"I don't know…"

"No need to be modest, Kudou-san. You're practically always in the papers."

The young writer leaned forward in his chair, regarding the detective with open admiration and maybe more than a hint of infatuation. Shinichi didn't notice, but Kaito did. He wanted to scowl but settled instead for a smile that was all cold, sharp edges, adding another name to the list of people he'd met thus far that night that he had to find time to pay a visit to if they were going to be staying here for awhile. He could have frowned, but he knew that his smiles were much scarier.

The writer glanced around when a chill ran down his spine, but couldn't seem to figure out why he suddenly felt cold all over.

No, Kaito was really not liking this party at all.

.

"Hey, Dad?"

Kudou Yusaku glanced up from his laptop. Shinichi had poked his head through the doorway to his and Yukiko's room and was glancing around with some concern.

"Yes?"

"Have you seen Kaito?"

The novelist turned in his chair, raising his eyebrows in question. "Not since dinner."

Shinichi frowned, biting on his lower lip.

"Is something the matter?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, his son gave his head a slight shake. "Not really. It's just unlike him to go vanishing like this without telling me." Unless he was doing something he knew Shinichi wouldn't approve of. "And he was acting strange during dinner."

Recalling the events of earlier that evening, Yusaku smirked. His son could be so clueless sometimes. "I'm sure he'll be back soon. I doubt he'll want to leave you alone for long after that dinner."

Blue eyes blinked then narrowed as Shinichi regarded his father suspiciously. "What are you talking about?"

Yusaku shrugged. "Why don't you just ask him when he gets back? And in the meantime," he added, his voice growing more serious, "I've been meaning to talk to you about your boyfriend's—ah, what would he call it?—night job."

Shinichi froze. "How did you—?"

"Toichi was a close friend to both your mother and me. When he died and KID disappeared, I naturally put the pieces together. It wasn't a big jump to make if you knew the man."

"When he was killed, you mean," Shinichi said, watching his father's reaction closely.

Yusaku paused then nodded. "So you do know. That saves some explaining at least."

"If you wanted to warn me about Snake, I already know he's dangerous. And we're doing what we can to be careful."

It was one of the reasons Kaito hadn't gone professional yet as a magician despite how much he wanted to. As long as Snake was out there, he'd have to put those dreams on hold. Neither of them wanted a repeat of what had happened to Kuroba Toichi.

"Of course. No, that's not the only reason I wanted to talk to you." The novelist paused then sighed. "I just thought I might have some information on the man that you don't."

Shinichi stood in the hallway outside his parents' room with a pensive frown on his face, mulling over what his father had told him. With further research, they might finally be able to root Snake from his hiding place, but at what risk? They had to be careful about this.

"Shin-chan!"

Shinichi braced himself moments before Kaito hurtled into him from behind, his arms circling his waist. "You sure left dinner fast," he murmured, his voice a mixture of relief and suspicion. "Care to explain what you were up to?"

"Mm?"

"Kaito, stop pretending you didn't understand me. Gah! Can't you wait until we get back to our room?"

"Hmm?"

"I _know_ you're listening to me …Is that someone screaming?"

"...Maybe. Don't worry about it."

"But, Kaito—"

"They'll be fine." More or less.

"What did you _do_?"

"Mm."

Shinichi gave up. At least he knew Kaito wouldn't actually _hurt_ anyone, not seriously anyway. Though he did have to wonder what the poor man had done to incur Kaito's wrath.

.

The next morning, Shinichi woke to the sounds of Kaito _not_ being quiet as he moved about their room making preparations. Groaning, he rolled onto his side and forced open heavy eyelids so he could shoot his significant other a baleful look. "Why are you waking me up this early? I thought we were on vacation."

"Good morning," Kaito sang, ignoring his question and stopping by the bed to give him a peck on the cheek before waving towards the open window. "The sun is up and the weather's beautiful. Let's go."

"Go where?"

"You'll see. I've already packed lunch since we might be out for awhile. All you have to do is get up."

Shinichi groaned again but sat up. "You better not be planning early wake-up calls every morning."

"You can sleep in tomorrow. Now come on."

Neither of them spoke again until they were on the narrow dirt trail leading further up the mountain. Kaito was obviously delighted about something and he kept dashing ahead and circling back to hasten Shinichi along. For his part, the fresh air did help kick his senses back into working order, which was good seeing as the path grew steeper with every step they took.

"Is anyone else awake?"

"One of the older gentlemen from last night and some of the staff—I think they were helping some new help settle in, but other than that it's just us."

"I don't suppose you brought breakfast too?"

Two pastries and half a bottle of water later, Shinichi stood staring out across the sea of green far below, wreathed in a faint morning mist. Somewhere in the distance, he could just make out the gathering of buildings that formed the resort. The scenery was breathtaking to be sure, but all the same…

"Kaito, is there some reason we're standing on the edge of a cliff?"

It was a very, very long way down.

"Yup, because we're going flying."

At the sound of rustling fabric and metallic pieces being snapped together, Shinichi looked around to find the magician opening up a glider. Though instead of the white cape construction he used on heists, this one was a brilliant, deep blue.

"I couldn't exactly use my usual glider," he explained, testing the apparatus to make sure everything was properly in place.

"Because it's KID's?"

Kaito chuckled. "No, because it wasn't built to handle two. It can take the extra weight of course—I've needed it to before, but we wouldn't be up in the air for nearly as long as I'd like."

"Two?"

"Well, yeah. You didn't think you were staying here, did you?"

He supposed that _was_ too much to hope for. "…Are you sure it's safe? We _are_ extremely high up."

"Of course it's safe. Just hold on real tight and I'll make sure nothing happens to us."

"Fine, just—no stunts or fancy tricks, okay?"

"Whatever you say! This is going to be _awesome_."

Night had fallen by the time they made it back to the resort, exhausted but thrilled. Flying on a glider had really been a different kind of experience and Shinichi could see why Kaito loved it so much, the feel of the wind and the freedom of the open skies. He'd been on KID's glider before of course, but someone's life had always been in danger and he'd always had his mind on more important things.

As they made their way through the hallways, however, their good mood was interrupted by the sight of Kohana hurrying down the hallway towards them wringing her hands in agitation.

"Kohana-san," Kaito greeted her, "is something wrong?"

"Well," the woman started then hesitated, glancing back over her shoulder, "I'm not sure. I was just going to ask Aiko-san if she wanted to head over to dinner together, but she won't answer her door."

"Maybe she's asleep?"

"Maybe," she said doubtfully, "but I was knocking pretty loudly, and when I asked around, no one's seen her all day. I was just looking for someone on staff to help me unlock the door so I can check on her, make sure she's all right."

Thief and detective exchanged concerned frowns.

"Can you show us to her room?"

The lock proved no match for Kaito's considerable experience and they swung the door open to find the room beyond an utter mess. Books, clothes, and various other objects lay strewn about the floor and disturbed furniture as though a tornado had recently passed through. Aiko herself was nowhere to be found.

Kohana stood frozen in the doorway while the other two picked their way through the debris, her hand raised to cover her mouth in shock. Beside the closed and latched window, Shinichi stopped to retrieve something from where it had been caught beneath a discarded overcoat.

It was a slightly crumpled crimson feather.

Dinner that night was a hushed occasion. It was too dark outside to mount a search party. Instead, some people retired early to their rooms to prepare for an early start the next morning while others lingered in the dining hall, talking in lowered voices. Shinichi and Kaito were part of the former group, though neither of them planned on going to sleep just yet.

Once in their room with the door closed, Shinichi pulled out what he had found and showed it to his partner.

"A feather?" Kaito asked, surprised.

"Yeah, but not a normal one." Passing it over, the detective elaborated, "I'm pretty sure it's made of some kind of cloth or canvas."

Running a gentle finger along the edge of the feather, Kaito made a sound of agreement in his throat. "You know, Shin-chan, there were spy cameras in Aiko-san's room too. I saw them when we were there earlier. But they weren't like the ones in ours."

"How so?"

"They weren't on."

Shinichi frowned. "Could she have found them too and turned them off?"

"I thought of that, but when I checked, they didn't have any fingerprints on them. So unless she did it wearing gloves or took the time to wipe her fingerprints off them when she was done…"

Which, of course, was highly unlikely. Sighing, Shinichi accepted the feather Kaito offered back and tucked it away. He was definitely starting to have his suspicions, but they would have to wait until the morning to start getting answers.

And so despite Kaito's promise that he could sleep in, sunrise found the two scouting through the art gallery in the resort's main building. The original owner of the resort had certainly accumulated quite the collection. The gallery itself took up the four largest rooms of the main complex, and every wall was lined with paintings from left to right and top to bottom. Not a single inch of wallpaper had been spared.

They found what they were looking for in a corner of the third gallery room.

"Not exactly the prize winner for artistic taste," Kaito observed, peering up at the painting of the angel kneeling against a background of ghostly figures, its figure half obscured by broken, crimson wings.

Shinichi didn't reply, his gaze focused instead on the people in the background of the picture. It was hard with the dark shadows that seemed to obscure everything aside from the angel itself, but he could just make out the impressions of different faces—one of which was eerily familiar.

"Hey, Kaito, would you say that man on the right looks a lot like Aiko-san?"

The magician squinted. "I suppose he does, if you discount the fact that it's a man of course. What are the chances of that?"

"Not high. Come on, let's see if the search parties found anything."

What they had "found" was another missing writer. The search parties had gone out with thirty odd members and come back with one less than they had left with. And in the middle of the courtyard where he had last been seen had been a scattering of crimson feathers.

Shinichi stood at the edge of the courtyard lost in thought for several moments before pivoting on his heel and marching back towards their room. Kaito blinked in slight confusion but followed without a word.

"Hey, Kaito," Shinichi started, opening the door to their room. "Do you know the names of all the writers staying here?"

"Of course I do."

"Can you list them for me? Both real and pen names please."

As the magician began to rattle off names, Shinichi paced around their room, pulling various books from the shelves and tossing them on the bed. By the time Kaito had finished, almost half the shelves stood empty.

Perched on the edge of his chair, Kaito raised his eyebrows. "Planning to sleep again during our stay?"

"It's these disappearances," Shinichi explained, shifting some books aside so he could sit on the edge of the bed. "Something smells fi—er, suspicious. Help me look through these, all right?"

"May I assume we're looking for references to disappearances, paintings, curses, and angels?"

"Something like that, yeah. Oh, and by the way, what happened with those spy cameras?"

"I got rid of them and they haven't put in a reappearance since."

"Hmm."

Deciding not to interrupt his detective's train of thought, Kaito busied himself with helping him sort through the books. Every time a possible reference came up, Shinichi would skim over it before placing it on the floor with all the others in a growing, sprawling pattern. It took them all afternoon, but finally, the pile of books on the bed had dwindled to nothing and they were left staring down at the strange map he'd created.

"Talk about suspicious," Kaito said at last.

"I'll say. This place, the people here, that so-called myth they told us—you can piece it all together out of these books. I bet the name of this resort was changed too. Remember that road sign that Dad had to get them to replace? You know what this means, don't you."

"Mm, that we've been set up."

"Exactly."

.

The soft drone of conversation around the dinner table was interrupted by a loud clearing of the throat. Heads turned towards the door to find Kaito leaning against the wall wearing an amused expression and Shinichi scowling with his arms crossed over his chest.

Shinichi waited until he was sure they had everyone's attention before speaking. "I just want to let you know that it won't work."

"Shin-chan?" Yukiko asked, regarding her son with confused curiosity. "What do you mean?"

The detective narrowed his eyes. "You all know what I mean. The story of the fallen angel, the disappearances—all this," he waved his arms to indicate the dining hall and all its inhabitants, "was staged by you. This writers' convention was just a cover to get us here and into your stories. That's why there were cameras in our room but no one else's."

"There were cameras in our room," one writer piped up, but Shinichi shook his head.

"There were, but they weren't turned on."

"But what about the people who disappeared?"

"Oh please, they're just hiding as part of the working staff. It wasn't hard to figure out their disguises once we knew what we were looking for."

Silence greeted the end of this exchange until suddenly, Yusaku burst out laughing. "That's my son for you. I knew this wouldn't last."

His wife expelled a deep, dramatic sigh. "Yes, but it was fun to try."

Shinichi glared at his parents. "This wasn't _your_ idea was it?"

Amused chuckles and murmurs circulated the room only to quiet down under his displeased glower.

Yusaku coughed. "Only partly. You do have a lot of fans here after all. We all thought it would be—ah, excellent material for practical consideration if we could get you to play along for the duration of the story."

Shinichi held onto his glare for a moment longer then let out an exasperated sigh. "You know what? I'm not even really surprised anymore."

"Aww, Shin-chan, don't be angry," Yukiko cooed, gesturing with her chopsticks. "Why don't you two come sit down and have some dinner? After all, this _is_ still a vacation."

The detective just rolled his eyes. His parents were officially impossible.

.

Later back in their room, Kaito opened the window to let in some refreshing night air and perched himself upon the sill.

"You know, I kind of wonder what it would have been like if we hadn't figured out that this whole venture was being staged by everyone but us," he mused, absentmindedly arching a deck of cards between his hands. "It might have been interesting."

Shinichi plopped down onto the bed, resting an arm across his eyes. It took a lot of energy to be annoyed at people. "Things can be interesting in bad ways too, especially when people might be getting hurt."

"True." Kaito sighed, turning to glance out at the bright silver disc of the moon in the sky. "I can't argue with that. Magic's only magic when nobody is getting hurt."

Shinichi hesitated, guessing at his train of thought, then said quietly, "Dad gave me some more information on Snake—the old crime rings he was involved in, old connections he might have fallen back on with the Organization gone."

Kaito's hands paused for a moment then continued as he nodded. "I guess we're finally getting close, aren't we?"

"Guess so."

For several long minutes, the only sound in their room was that of the cards whispering through the magician's nimble fingers.

"I just wish you could have met him," Kaito said finally, his voice so full of wistfulness, sorrow, and regret that Shinichi felt his own heart ache. "I think Tou-san would have liked you."

"I'd hope so."

But perhaps there were just some things in this life that you were never meant to know.

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, III In His Footsteps - **_The serpent and the gem of immortality and the moonlight, it was all Kuroba Toichi's legacy…_**) **

* * *

**AN:** Thanks for reading and please review!


	10. III In His Footsteps

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 10 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**III**

**In His Footsteps**

Shinichi tensed momentarily out of reflex when the bed dipped behind him but relaxed as a familiar arm slid around his waist.

"You didn't come to my heist," Kaito said, and he could clearly hear the pout in his voice.

Shinichi turned another page of his book though he was only really half reading it. He knew all of Sherlock Holmes's books so well that he could probably recite them from heart anyway. "It's not like I really have a reason to go."

"To see me?"

"I see you every day."

"But it's not as fun without you. I miss having my favorite detective in the audience."

He leaned forward to murmur the last few words in Shinichi's ear, making the detective blush. Staring fixedly at the text in front of him, he mumbled, "You can't really expect me to want to run around chasing you and trying to arrest you after everything that's happened."

"No, I suppose not," Kaito sighed. Reaching around him, he plucked the book from Shinichi's hands and put it on the bedside table before shifting around a bit so he could tuck the detective's head under his chin. "Even Hakuba only half tries these days, and I swear he's really only there to keep an eye out for trouble. I guess the game could only last for so long."

Closing his eyes, Shinichi relaxed into his partner's warmth, just glad that he was back in one piece. He wouldn't say it aloud, but they both knew that he'd only been up waiting for the thief to come home. Kaito was right about Hakuba partly being there to keep an eye on things. The three detectives had agreed amongst themselves that at least one of them should always be at a KID heist in case anything happened, but probably not more than one or else people could start noticing their lack of motivation to actually try and catch the thief. And since Hakuba and KID had the longest running history and it could be suspicious it he suddenly stopped going, he was usually the one who went.

"I heard from Hakuba that your heists are even more like shows now than they were before."

"Of course. Since my detectives aren't going to make things interesting, I might as well take advantage of the respite to please my fans."

Shinichi snorted at that, but the amusement didn't last long. "I assume that since you haven't said anything, the gem wasn't…?"

"No."

"And Snake?"

"Still nothing."

Which was good and bad: bad because that meant the sniper was still at large but good because it meant also that Kaito hadn't come home bleeding. You could only be so lucky for so long when dodging bullets.

"Next week… Are you sure you still want to go?"

Kaito's arms tightened around him. "Yeah… I think it's about time I went back."

Shinichi frowned in concern at the tone of his voice but only nodded. The magician was right. It was probably high time he went back, if only in an attempt to lay his own ghosts to rest.

.

The performance hall was old and showed obvious signs of renovation, the newest of which dated back to the night of Kuroba Toichi's final show. Shinichi had seen the photographs taken afterwards of the wreckage left by the fire. No one could have survived being caught in it.

They had checked in at a nearby hotel late yesterday afternoon and Kaito had left early this morning. Shinichi had been awake—when he was worried, he was almost as light a sleeper as Kaito—but hadn't opened his eyes or said anything. Kaito wouldn't have been sneaking out if he didn't need some time alone to sort out his thoughts and deal with being back at the scene of the tragedy that had forever changed and shaped the course of his life. When people passed away, the loved ones they left behind always needed time to grieve and then move on. But he didn't think the magician had ever really gotten to the "moving on" part, not really. Not if you could look past his jokes and smiles and laughter. KID was, in a way, proof of that. That was the problem when people got murdered. It left so many unanswered questions, so many confused memories and broken dreams.

When breakfast had come and gone and Kaito still hadn't come back, Shinichi finally made his way to the performance hall. And sure enough, he spotted the magician the moment he stepped through the front door.

Kaito, normally so full of unshakable confidence and endless possibility, looked suddenly small and uncertain, huddled in upon himself where he sat in the front row of empty seats. His head hung low and the shadow of his bangs obscured his eyes, leaving only the flat line of his mouth, turned slightly downward at the corners. He looked _hurt,_ Shinichi thought, and it pained him to know just how much the magician was still suffering from his father's death. Or perhaps it pained him even more that he _hadn't_ known until then.

Another reminder that even putting the criminals responsible behind bars could never repair the damage that they'd caused. The Black Organization might be gone, but the world still had yet to recover from its shadows. At least Shinichi hadn't really lost anything that he hadn't been able to get back.

Making his way down the middle isle, Shinichi hesitated then put a hand on the thief's shoulder. "Kaito?"

For a long moment, Kaito didn't answer, didn't stir—barely seemed to _breathe_. Then, "I can't forget—still dream about it sometimes. Funny how photographic memory can come back to bite you."

He laughed but it sounded incredibly fake and he must have realized it too because he stopped almost right away, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly—carefully.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come after all." _I'm not ready. _

Shinichi wasn't sure what to say. There were all the usual things of course—that his father wouldn't have wanted to see him like this, that he had to let go sometime, but he knew Kaito knew all that already. Instead, he sat down in the chair next to him and asked quietly, "What was he like?" _Talk to me? _

There was another long silence then, "He was the best magician ever and he was always doing tricks at home for Mom and me, and I'd bug him to teach me, only he wouldn't show me another trick until I could show him that I'd perfected the last one. There's nothing worse than a trick you haven't practiced enough. And he'd give me puzzles to solve when I got bored—Mom always assigned him the task of keeping me out of the way when she was busy and we'd go out and he'd almost always end up performing for me and the other kids in the park."

He stopped rambling and swallowed hard, closing his eyes and forcing his breath to even out. "Never show your emotions, Kaito, no matter what cards you hold in your hand. Never let it show… He taught me everything I needed to know to be KID, though I didn't realize it at the time—and of course, I've added touches of my own, especially with technology improving as fast as it does."

It made him wonder if his father had known or at least suspected that he wouldn't live to finish what he had begun.

Shinichi wasn't sure Kuroba Toichi had done his son a favor by teaching him how to mask his emotions so well. It seemed like his perfect Poker Face did almost just as much to hide emotions from himself as it did to conceal them from those around him. Still, Toichi had been the original Kaitou KID and had probably done what he thought was best to protect his only child.

Shinichi wondered what it would have been like to meet the man. He suspected that the famous magician would have been much like his son, especially with what Kaito had told him, full of mischief and masks, moonlight and secrets. But perhaps without the darkness that occasionally flickered across Kaito's eyes, a weariness left over from the burden of his father's murder and carrying on the legacy of Pandora.

"If only…" Kaito stopped, gave his head a rough shake and turned away. When he looked back at Shinichi, his wolfish grin had returned and indigo eyes gleamed with a mischief that hid away everything else. "Come on, Shin-chan! I discovered this morning that our hotel has the most amazing view from the roof, though getting up there might be a bit tricky."

Because sometimes, you couldn't allow yourself that kind of dream. Sometimes, you couldn't let yourself look back, not yet. Not unless you wanted the shadows to catch up with you and take you with them into the dark.

.

Shinichi, Hakuba, and Heiji sat around the coffee shop table, various documents containing the images of more than a couple dozen gemstones spread out before them.

"These were all targeted by the original Kaitou KID," Hakuba informed them, marking off several of the stones with a red pen, "and these have all been stolen at one point or another by the current one."

Another several stones were crossed out and they were left with a good couple handfuls of famous jewels. The three detectives sat staring broodingly at the array. They had spent the past couple months researching gemstones with legends that bore even a vague resemblance to Pandora and the papers upon the table contained the results of their labor. By silent agreement, they hadn't told Kaito about it yet, not wanting to get his hopes up. They checked the gemstones that they could and Shinichi would try and subtly direct Kaito's heist plans towards the stones they couldn't so easily get legal access to. Shinichi had personally asked Sonoko and gone to check all of the extensive collection of relevant stones owned by the Suzuki Family, but so far they had still had no luck.

"That still leaves round about a couple dozen stones," Heiji sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Maybe we're going about this all wrong."

Hakuba raised his eyebrows skeptically. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. We don't even know for sure that this Pandora actually exists. But we have to keep looking because there are still people out there willing to kill for it."

"Your point?"

"If we can just catch the people—_person_—we know is killing to find it, it won't matter anymore if the gem is actually found, at least not right away."

"That won't stop Kuroba from looking."

"No, but we would be able to stop worrying about people shooting him."

"It's not that we don't know that, Hattori," Shinichi reminded him. "It's just that even with the information my father gave us, we're no closer to finding Snake than we are to locating Pandora. If anything, we know more about Pandora since we _have_ discovered a bunch of gems that it's _not_."

"Right," Hakuba sighed, swirling the tea around in his cup, "about Snake… It seems that there might have been a suspicious character around at the last heist. Nothing happened so I didn't find out about it until later when I heard some of the men talking about it."

Shinichi tensed. "Was it him?"

"I don't know, but to be safe, I'm going to assume that it was."

"Which means we should all be on high alert from now on," Heiji concluded. "Be ready to call in the proper backup."

Hakuba nodded. "Leave it to me. With the Organization gone, I was able to reopen investigations on the KID shootings. One thing though—Kudou, do you think you could try to keep Kuroba out of Ekoda for awhile?"

"Ekoda? But why?"

"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it seems logical that if our unsavory acquaintance has begun looking for KID, he'd start there. I also have strong suspicions that a recent robbery in the area might have been carried out by him."

Shinichi left the coffee shop in a daze. It always felt a bit surreal when Hakuba nad Heiji agreed on anything, let alone talked like they were actually good friends—which Shinichi was pretty sure they were even if they preferred not to admit it to one another. In a way, they almost seemed to balance each other out, one overly cautious and methodological and the other more straightforward and instinctual. Actually, it was kind of funny, or maybe that was just Kaito putting in his two cents even in the absence of his actual person. That seemed to be happening a lot lately.

Speaking of Kaito, it worried him that he hadn't seen or heard from him all day. Of course he knew that the magician thief was more than capable of taking care of himself, but something about today felt wrong all of a sudden. He'd just had this odd sense of foreboding ever since Hakuba had mentioned keeping Kaito away from Ekoda. If only he could remember—oh, damn. He'd been half asleep still when Kaito had left the house that morning, but if he thought hard, he was pretty sure he could remember the magician saying something about scouting out a new gemstone that was just coming out on display for the first time in six decades.

At the Ekoda Museum.

And in the end, worried or not, you couldn't stop Kaito from being Kaito—beneath his various disguises at any rate. Come rain or shine, snipers or no sniper, his heists always continued as planned.

.

The Midnight's Tear gleamed in its simple, white gold setting in sharp contrast to the black velvet beneath. Shinichi examined the large diamond with morbid interest, wondering how much blood lay in its history already before turning his attention back to the members of the Kaitou KID Taskforce scattered around the room. It was the first KID heist he had attended in months and it had taken more than a little convincing to get Inspector Nakamouri to let him in. Really, Shinichi would have preferred not to have to endure the man's deafening roars and open dislike for him. But he was not going to let Kaito get hurt either.

On the bright side, the inspector was happy to ignore him as long as he "didn't get in his way", and if Shinichi didn't seem to be trying very hard to capture the criminal, Nakamouri wasn't going to complain.

"I told you that I don't want any of the museum staff in the museum!" the inspector was bellowing, gesticulating with great irritation at the unfortunate policeman, "I don't care if they've already had their face checks! They'll only give that damned thief more material to work with!"

"I'm sorry, sir, I'll ask them to leave right away."

"What? You can't just leave now! KID's scheduled to arrive in five minutes! Just—put them somewhere out of the way and tell them not to move an inch until this is over."

He continued to rant but Shinichi was no longer paying attention. Because he'd caught a glimpse of a shadow out in the corridor, a familiar shadow dressed like one of the police officers. And it hadn't been Kaito's.

It was Snake.

_Damn_, Shinichi cursed, stamping down on the panic that was trying to rear its ugly and intensely unhelpful head. They were prepared for this, he reminded himself. They had been preparing for it ever since Kaito had declared his intended heist target. Digging his cell phone from his pocket, he hit the necessary keys, not taking his eyes from the corridor doorway though he could no longer see his target.

"Hello?"

"Hakuba," Shinichi hissed, not bothering with pleasantries. "_He's here_."

It took only a moment for the other detective to realize who he was talking about. "I'm on my way."

Tucking his phone away, Shinichi double checked to make sure he had all his equipment then carefully made his way towards the exit. He'd thoroughly scouted out the layout of the museum days before and it didn't take much imagination to figure out where their target would be headed. After all, KID was famous for his aerial escapes.

.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Hands stilled upon the gun as narrowed eyes searched the seemingly deserted rooftop. Eyes with more than a touch of madness in them, Shinichi thought, pressing further back into the shadows.

"Who are you?"

Shinichi remembered that voice and he had to bite down on his anger. He needed to be calm. Kaito wouldn't let his anger show so easily. Taking a deep breath, he raised the voice changer to his mouth and chose his words with care. "Forgotten me so soon?"  
Snake's eyes flew wide in rage and he spun, searching for the source of the mocking voice. But Shinichi had planned all this out very carefully. He had speakers scattered all throughout the building. Hakuba and his men were on their way, but first thing was first. He had to lure Snake back downstairs.

"You!" The man's voice slid through the silent night in a low hiss like that of the serpent whose name he bore. "You ruined everything. But this time, you aren't going to get away."

"Funny, I was just thinking the same about you."

.

Kaito noticed almost right away that something was amiss.

Oh, there was nothing obviously wrong. His Taskforce were as lively as ever—or had been anyway before he'd glued the soles of all their shoes to the ground. It was quite funny watching Nakamouri struggle out of his shoes, snarling as his men rushed after KID in their white socks which would probably not be white anymore when this night was over. But anyways, he digressed.

The problem was that he couldn't seem to find any of the usual detectives, and he _knew_ Shinichi had planned on being here. His concern growing with every second that passed suspiciously detective-less, Kaito dispensed with most of his usual tricks, appropriated the gemstone in question, and went in search of something much more precious to him. Though he couldn't help but glance at the stone in his hand as he made his way to an open window, and _that_ was enough to make him pause for just a moment. Of course, things always turned up when you least expected. It was practically a law of nature.

"Tantei-kun?"

Shinichi turned towards the figure in white that had landed upon the railing beside him and smirked, that triumphant, satisfied smirk that tended to put in an appearance whenever one of his truly challenging cases had been closed. Below in the streets, he could just pick out that single, all-important patrol car pulling away from the museum. With Hakuba and his trained reinforcements along with the preparations laid out by the three most famous up-and-coming detectives, the entire operation had been almost surprisingly easy. Add some of the hiding skills Shinichi had picked up from Kaito and his tranquilizer watch, and even a mad sniper could only do so much.

"We got him."

Indigo eyes stared at him for a moment, unreadable behind his glinting monocle. Then Kaito's jaw dropped just a fraction and he jerked his head back around to stare at the departing police car. "You mean you—Snake—he's…"

"Never going to bother us again," Shinichi finished, his elation breaking into an ecstatic smile as he threw caution to the winds and threw his arms around the master thief. "We've got more than enough evidence to convict him. He's going to spend the rest of his life paying for his crimes."

For several seconds, Kaito stood frozen in disbelief. Then a real smile settled onto his lips and he wrapped his arms around the detective's waist, returning the embrace with equal enthusiasm if not more.

Shutting his eyes, Shinichi let his head rest on Kaito's shoulder. "It's over."

"Not quite yet, but it will be soon."

Puzzled, Shinichi straightened to look at him. In answer to his silent question, Kaito snapped his fingers and cradled that night's heist target in his hand for a moment before lifting it so Shinichi could see the moonlight reflected in its crystalline depths—crystalline depths which suddenly burned a bright, bloody crimson.

Shinichi gasped. "You—it's—you found it!"

"What a coincidence, huh? I guess Lady Luck favors me after all." Kaito smirked and made the jewel vanish once again. "Now all we have to do is find a way to destroy it. Well, I have to go. My adoring fans are waiting for my getaway. I'll meet you at home?"

"Like I'd be anywhere else."

"Of course. And if you see Hakuba, tell him I said thanks." His manic grin back in place, Kaito threw him a mock salute, tugged down the brim of his white top hat, and stepped backwards into freefall.

.

Weeks later, all the papers were speculating on Kaito KID's sudden disappearance for the second time from the international stage. Rumors flew everywhere, people speculating on all the possible reasons—injury, weariness, an unpublicized capture, or even death. Shinichi just smiled and was happy in the knowledge that this time, at least, that was not the case.

Yet even though Snake now had a permanent home in prison and Pandora's fragments lay at the bottom of the sea, a convincing fake having been returned to the original owner of the Midnight's Tear, Kaito's good mood seemed to falter. He hid it well, but Shinichi had come to know him too well not to notice. He began spending more time by himself, disappearing usually for an hour or so during the night. Shinichi finally found him one Sunday evening standing in full KID regalia on the top of the Ekoda clock tower.

Kaito didn't move as Shinichi moved up to stand beside him, but a few minutes of silence later, he spoke. "Do you…do you think he's proud of me?"

Shinichi didn't have to ask who he meant. "I'm sure he is."

The magician's shoulders relaxed a little and he blinked rapidly as if to ward off tears. Still, his eyes when Shinichi managed to catch them seemed a bit too bright.

"I'm going to miss it," Kaito said a little wistfully, looking down at the white top hat in his hands. "Planning heists, the thrill of the chase, messing with my wonderful taskforce… I might have started being KID because of what happened to my father, but I sure as hell had a lot of fun. I'm going to miss being KID."

"You don't have to, you know."

Kaito glanced sidelong at his companion in surprise. Not quite meting his eyes, Shinichi reached out to tug the hat gently from his grasp and perch it back on top of his head. "You might not go on heists anymore—and god knows how many more years of you Nakamouri's heart could take—but you'll always be KID. He's too much a part of who you are."

The magician considered this for a moment then grinned, wrapping an arm around Shinichi's shoulders. "That's my Tantei-kun, correct as usual!"

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, II Like No Other) **

* * *

**AN: **Thank you for reading and please review.


	11. II Like No Other

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 11 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**II**

**Like No Other**

When Kaito casually mentioned over dinner during one of their friendly gatherings that he was going to be starting work with the police department on the following Monday, Hakuba almost choked. Spluttering and coughing, he finally managed a slightly strangled, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Afraid not," the magician said cheerfully, completely enjoying the shocked horror on the British detective's face. "And since Shin-chan here recommended me, they simply couldn't refuse."

Hakuba's head swiveled in Shinichi's direction. "You _recommended_ him? May I ask _why_?"

"Why not?"

Kaito certainly had the skills and the brains for the job.

"Why _not_?" he repeated incredulously. "He was an internationally wanted criminal and you're asking me _why not_?"

Finally lifting his gaze from his meal, Shinichi gave his fellow detective a completely deadpan look. "Well, it does give him a unique perspective, no?"

"Unique—yes, unique, as in "_from the wrong side of the law_" unique. Honestly, Kudou, I can't imagine what you were thinking! Not to mention you," and here, he glared back at Kaito as if this was all his fault—somehow, it always was, "suddenly deciding to become part of law enforcement, that's the last move I would have expected from you."

"Hey, I resent that! I've never been averse to lending the police a helping hand when it was needed. And besides," he added more seriously, "things change."

.

…That was it really. Things changed, and Kaito was more than happy to speed them along now that he was finally free of the burdens his father's death had left upon him. Within a week of returning home, he had submitted his application to the police department where Shinichi worked and begun planning his professional debut on the magic stage for a few weeks after that, blissfully uninhibited by any sense of personal limitation. Of course, Shinichi suspected that his main reason for joining law enforcement was to keep Shinichi close to him, but regardless, that didn't stop him from doing his work well. Busy only scratched the surface of the whirl of activity in their house these days, all centered on the former thief. And really, Kaito _had_ to work that hard with all the _living_ he had decided that he needed to catch up on. He began by completely redecorating the Beika police station…

.

Takagi stood before the new picture hung upon the office wall, his brow furrowed in a puzzled and slightly uneasy frown. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like a normal enough picture containing the likeness of an old man in a tattered cloak standing in a room full of curious relics and props. No, what had caught the detective's attention were his eyes, bright green eyes beneath a lopsided felt hat—eyes that he was _absolutely_ _sure_ had been blue the day before.

Could he have been mistaken? He'd only glanced at the picture once when it had first appeared. But no, the eyes weren't the only things that seemed _off_ somehow today. But what was it then?

Come to think of it, had the man's hands been in his pockets yesterday?

"Takagi-kun! Are you ready? We were supposed to be on our way five minutes ago."

"Oh, of course, Satou-san. I'm coming!"

The moment Takagi had his back turned, the man in the picture grinned and thumbed his nose at him.

Frowning, the detective glanced back, but by the time his gaze had focused once more upon the picture, everything seemed to have gone back to normal—only the man's eyes were blue again. He shivered and hurried after his partner, throwing a few nervous looks back over his shoulder.

Shinichi had been watching the entire scene from across the room, and once the detectives had moved on, he turned to his companion and raised an eyebrow. "A picture that mocks you every time you turn your back?"

"Cool, huh? And the little details change every now and then too, great exercise for your observation and memorization skills. It'll even congratulate you if you can catch it making fun of you."

"…I think it's unnerving Takagi-keiji."

"He'll get used to it."

"And that blank canvas you have up by my office?"

"It'll write out different fun facts every day, kind of like a brighten up your day advice column. I thought we could really use one."

"But it's blank."

"Yeah, well, I set it up to write out messages whenever someone gets within five feet of it. Things leave more of an impression when they startle you."

"…"

"And it's _our_ office now, remember?"

.

…One might have thought his antics would cause problems in a homicide investigation office, and sometimes it did. But mostly, people were surprised to find themselves feeling almost refreshed by it. Because after a long day of working crime scenes and coming in contact with the lowest of human scum, they appreciated anything that brought a little of the brightness and the color back into the world.

For his part, Kaito rarely actually took on any murder cases by himself, usually preferring to assist Shinichi. His specialty was—surprise, surprise—thefts and burglaries, forgeries and blackmail jobs. He also handled any hacking they ended up having to do and anything related to security, whether it was building it up or tearing it down. People couldn't help but notice how uncannily _good_ he was at both…

.

"Guess what I'm going to be doing for the next couple weeks."

"Does it have something to do with that assassination threat for the new ambassador?" Almost everyone in the station was working on it.

"Yup. You're looking at the new leading security consultant."

"_You're_ in charge of security?"

"That's what I said. And guess who I'm going to be working with?"

Kaito grinned evilly and Shinichi groaned. "Don't tell me. Nakamouri-keibu?"

"Right again! And all the rest of my wonderful taskforce too! Since KID hasn't had any heists for awhile, they're being given different assignments."

"Oh god, all those poor people."

"Aww, Shin-chan, that wasn't very nice! I mean, am I the kind of person who would mess around with the heads of my own subordinates?"

"Yes, you are. And don't give me that look. You still mess around with _my_ head and you're supposed to be in love with me."

"Aww, but you're so _fun_ to tease!"

"…I rest my case. Does Nakamouri know yet?"

"Hmm, I wanted to surprise him. Do you think he'll be pleased to see that it's me?"

"Where's my cell phone?"

"In the pocket of your jacket, which I think I left in the kitchen. Why?"

"Because I need to call the hospital and reserve him a room. If you give him a heart attack, they should be prepared."

.

…Kaito took special pleasure in working with the former members of the Kaitou KID Taskforce. They had been chasing him for so long that he knew all of them by name as well as more than a few of their hobbies and habits. No one could ever accuse him of not looking after his taskforce. The hard part was pretending he didn't know them and re-familiarizing them with him as Kuroba Kaito.

When the magician did get called in on homicide cases, it was usually because something incredibly bizarre had cropped up, something like an unusual kidnapping and death threats engineered by madmen. Funny really, he seemed to get called upon a lot for the really crazy people, like everyone expected him to understand them better or something. Occasionally, it did occur to him to wonder why…

.

"Remind me again how we ended up in this position."

Kaito gave a slightly strained laugh, one hand gripping tightly onto the edge of the trapdoor and the other almost cutting off the blood circulation in Shinichi's wrist. "You know, that's a question I'd like to ask."

Shinichi grimaced, peering down into the empty space beneath his feet. "It's too dark. I can't see what's down there."

Kaito didn't need to see what was down there. Not seeing was far worse. His imagination was more than happy to populate the darkness with all manner of horrors. "Well, this guy seems to want to play with all of us for awhile. So I'd say that whatever's down there, it's probably not life threatening. But it'll probably be something highly unpleasant and I don't really want to find out for sure. I don't suppose you have a grappling hook on you?"

"Kaito…"

"Okay, of course you don't have grappling hooks. Silly me for asking. Here, I'm going to see if I can get one down to you—it's folded up so make sure you set it up properly before you throw it. I designed it myself, you know. If you can just be sure to catch it with your free hand?"

Above him, Kaito shifted about a bit and Shinichi automatically reached out to snatch at the glint of silver that swung in front of his face accompanied by the feel of something cold slithering down the arm Kaito was holding. "Got it."

"Right. If you can just secure that up top and hang on for a moment so I can get up and throw you a proper rope."

They both breathed a sigh of relief when they were finally back on solid ground. Kaito massaged his shoulders and grimaced.

"I'm really starting to hate this funhouse of a castle."

Shinichi flexed his wrist gingerly and winced. "Only just starting?"

He would have thought nearly being electrocuted in the doorway, almost getting skewered in the entrance hall, nearly breaking a limb on the trick staircase, dodging falling mirrors large enough to crush all the air out of a person, narrowly avoiding being crushed under a chandelier, and then almost falling to their deaths was enough to make anyone hate this castle a long time ago.

"Well, you've got to admit that it looks pretty impressive from the outside."

If by "impressive" you meant big and black and taken right out of a horror movie then yes, Shinichi supposed it was rather impressive. Still, knowing who—or what—was living inside stripped away any illusions of grandeur.

"What did this guy say he wanted again?"

"He didn't. People have just been disappearing around here and we have strong suspicions that it's the man who used to own this castle."

"Used to own…"

"Yeah, he was supposedly a pretty well known magician for a time, but then his popularity plummeted due to some private scandals and he disappeared after spending some time behind bars."

"So that weird letter that was sent to the police station?"

"It was an invitation to this castle, something about the greatest performance of life and death—completely over dramatic."

"And?"

"And it came with photographs of the people who'd vanished."

"Right, so we got sent to arrest this bastard because you're a homicide detective and I'm a magician?"

"Most likely."

.

…And likely because they really made an uncannily good team. Shinichi barely had to say anything to get Kaito to understand what he was thinking or what evidence he was looking for, and even if Shinichi didn't know how the magician pulled off all his tricks, he still knew enough about his style and thought process to lend a hand when necessary. These facts had probably saved both their lives and the lives of many of the other officers more than once.

Kaito's first official performance as a magician under his own name was spectacular, set on a makeshift, open stage constructed within the city square—because, of course, he couldn't just debut in a performance hall like so many others. And when Kaito planned, he always planned big…

.

Heiji peered out across the square at the crowds and fancy lights and whistled. He, Hakuba, and Shinichi were all standing on the edge of a nearby roof, waiting for the rest of their group to arrive. It was probably one of the few performances where rooftop seating was available. "I have to wonder how he managed to set this all up."

"With help, I think," Shinichi observed, leaning against the railing and surveying the area for places where he thought Kaito might be. "KID did have assistants, after all, and both he and his father probably had a lot of connections."

In a way, Shinichi supposed that the three detectives had also participated in allowing this show to take place—probably part of the reason they were all here, aside from just supporting a friend. This performance was a symbol that Pandora had been found and Snake had finally put in his last appearance in their lives. It was a symbol that they could all finally move on and focus on the future without having to worry about the echoes of the past. And when you looked at it that way, it was hard not to feel just a bit elated to be standing there, a part of the waiting audience.

"Seems rather bold to go for something like this though. It reeks of KID's style."

Hakuba made a noncommittal noise in his throat caught between disapproval and resignation. "It's not like anyone could prove anything concrete. He changed most of his props for this, and even if some of his tricks are like KID's—well, he _has_ framed himself as KID's number one fan. One can only expect him to emulate a fellow magician he claims to admire."

Heiji snorted. "I suppose you're right. Even his new outfit seems kind of similar to his old one."

Old wouldn't have been Shinichi's word for it. KID might not go on heists anymore, but that didn't seem to prevent Kaito from wearing his "old" costume out now and then, and certainly more often than Shinichi thought was a good idea.

"I'm kind of surprised you're not on stage with him," Hakuba noted, glancing sidelong at Shinichi.

The other detective just grimaced. "Ugh, don't remind me. I've been hiding from him during his rehearsals all month."

And even now he was absolutely certain Kaito was planning something terrible for him as payback. He couldn't _prove_ anything obviously—this was KID they were talking about—but he just _knew_ damn it!

The three fell silent as Ran arrived—to their shared surprise—with both her parents in tow, even if they were both studiously ignoring one another. Kaito's own mother had surprised him by agreeing to take part in preparing for the show itself, which probably meant her seat was somewhere out of sight. Aoko and Kazuha arrived next and Sonoko soon followed carrying a video camera and wearing an expression of glee.

"It's like an ocean of people down there," Kazuha grumbled, moving to stand beside Heiji. "I'm glad Kuroba-kun gave us seats up here. Just getting through the crowd was a nightmare. You know, Heiji, you could have come down and helped us."

"Oi, you were the one who told me to go on ahead!"

"Looks like a third of those people are past and present classmates," Aoko observed, shading her eyes. "Hey, Kudou-kun, do you have any idea what he has planned?"

"No, he wouldn't tell me."

"Oh well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"A magician never reveals his tricks!" Sonoko agreed, grinning as she hoisted her video camera. "I can't wait!"

As though on cue, the sound of a bell suddenly rang out above the din of the crowd. People began to quiet down, glancing around for the source of the noise. One ring, two—a single dove flapped down to circle the stage before landing on it—three rings, and abruptly, the entire square exploded in a storm of snow white wings.

.

…Yet through it all, all the conflicts and the chaos that made up everyday life, they never forgot what was really important…

.

"They wanted me to do some spy work, help them infiltrate the circle."

"Are you going to do it?"

"No, I declined. I'll help with the other stuff, info gathering or whatever, but not with that kind of spy work."

"Why?" Shinichi wasn't sure he liked the idea of Kaito infiltrating other criminal organizations, but frankly, he could think of no one more suited to the task.

"Mm, I didn't want to leave you. It might have been fun but taking the job would mean moving—different identity for awhile, that sort of thing—if I wanted to do it properly." And of course, when it came to the art of deception, Kaito always did things properly. Call it habit or hobby, but that was just the kind of person he'd made himself.

"…Thank you."

The magician chuckled, his nose buried in Shinichi's hair. "For what? I'm never leaving you. Don't you remember? I told you before that I would make you mine. And now that you are, I'd be a fool to let you go."

* * *

**TBC… (next chapter, I Immortality of a Different Kind) **

* * *

**AN:** One more chapter to go! I hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you for reading and please review!


	12. I Immortality of a Different Kind

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

**Summary:** Being on the run while working at the same time to bring down a powerful, criminal syndicate could have been miserable, only Kaitou KID didn't _do _miserable. Four heads were a lot more interesting if not always necessarily better than one, and _that_ was only just the beginning.

**Status:** Part 12 of 12

**Pairing(s):** Kaito x Shinichi centric, minor Hakuba x Ran and hints of Heiji x Kazuha

* * *

**Countdown to Forever**

**By V. Shalyr**

* * *

**I**

**Immortality of a Different Kind**

Shinichi woke late on the last day of December shrouded in a warm, lazy haze of comfort. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the sunlight falling through the crack in the curtains and the cheerful twitter of birds could be made out even through the glass. Kaito mumbled something from beside him and pulled him closer with the arm draped about his waist.

"Hey, you awake?"

"Mm, more or less."

The two fell silent, content in the knowledge that, for once, they had nothing they had to do. Well, not in terms of work at any rate.

"So the party was going to start at what, five?"

"Yup, at Hakuba's house."

"Really? I can't believe he actually agreed to have a party at his house with you on the guest list."

"Who knows? Ran sent the invitations. Maybe he _didn't_ agree."

"Doesn't know, you mean."

"Mm."

Sighing, Shinichi sat up and stretched. "I guess we should get up then, figure out what we can bring over. We might have to go shopping if my memory of what's left in our fridge is correct."

"It probably is," Kaito agreed, propping himself on one elbow to watch as Shinichi grabbed a change of clothes from the closet and headed for the bathroom. Stifling a small yawn, he slid a little reluctantly from beneath the warm covers and moved to join him.

Shinichi eyed Kaito nervously over his shoulder. "Why are you following me?" _Into the bathroom? _Not that it hadn't happened before, just not usually in the morning.

"It's New Year's Eve," Kaito said by way of an explanation—which, by the way, Shinichi found completely inadequate.

"So?" From past experience, when Kaito followed him into the shower, he was usually more interested in pinning the detective to the wall than showering.

"That means you're not leaving my side for any amount of time between now and midnight tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Well, they say that what you do around the New Year affects what happens to you for the next twelve months, right? So seeing as my good luck tends to trump your bad luck, if we can manage to avoid any murders for these two days, you might have a lot less work next year."

Shinichi regarded him warily for a moment longer, but looked away when Kaito ignored him and began to undress. Moving as far away from the magician as space would allow, he hurriedly started to do the same before Kaito could decide that he'd like to do it for him. Watching out of the corner of his eyes, Kaito couldn't help but grin. It was just so _amusing_ how Shinichi could still get embarrassed. He wondered if his poor detective knew how hard it was to resist when he got all flustered.

They had both made it under the warm spray of water before Shinichi felt a finger trace down his bare spine. He jumped and glared back around at Kaito. "I thought you said you were just here to keep me company."

"Oh, did I say that?"

.

Hakuba opened the door, stared at the two people on his doorstep then promptly shut the door again, telling himself that he'd just hallucinated the whole thing.

"Who was it?" Ran demanded, appearing in the entrance hall with her phone still in her hand.

"No one," Hakuba said hopefully.

Ran raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the way he had his back pressed against the door as though trying to prevent something from getting in. "Really?"

"…You invited Kuroba," he mumbled finally, lost in his own world of dismay, "to my house."

"Well, of course. He and Shinichi are good friends of ours after all. You couldn't expect me not to invite them."

"But—but to my house."

"Which is where the party is, yes. I thought you guys had gotten over all that. And if not, I'm sure he won't do anything to your house that we can't get him to fix later. Anyways, Kaito-kun really makes the life and soul of the party when he's around."

Hakuba stared at her in horror, but couldn't quite seem to find the right words to explain exactly why you _didn't_ want Kaito being the life and soul at your party.

And anyways, it was too late as the lock behind him clicked and Kaito let Shinichi and himself in.

"How rude, trying to lock us out like that! And after we came _all_ this _way_!"

Hakuba glared at the former thief, but refrained from retorting as Ran hurried forward to greet the newcomers with a warm smile and a steely glint in her eyes.

"So how _are_ you two?"

Soon after that, everyone else began to arrive—first Aoko then Kazuha with Heiji in tow looking oddly nervous. Shinichi noted this with distracted interest while he tried not to laugh at Kaito who was trying to hide behind him from Sonoko, who had become almost as big a fan of the magician Kuroba Kaito as she had been of Kaitou KID. Shinichi rather thought that she needed someone to be obsessed about, and with KID no longer going on heists, she'd needed somewhere else to direct her obsessive, fan energy.

"Shinichi, did you make this?"

Shinichi looked around to find Ran examining the elaborate, white-frosting and fruit creation that was the cake he and Kaito had brought for the party. "Ah, no, Kaito bought it. I was going to make something, but we didn't really have anything at home and we never got around to going grocery shopping."

"You two _have_ been busy with work and everything. Dad was talking about it the other day when he got back from the station."

Shinichi grimaced. "Nothing good, I'll bet."

"Hey! There were good things too."

"Yeah, only your Dad can make compliments sound like insults."

Ran scowled. "He's changed a lot, you know."

"I know." Shinichi sighed. "Sorry, that wasn't very nice of me."

She glared at him a moment longer then looked back down at the cake. "Oh well, it _is_ mostly complaining so I guess I shouldn't say anything. Still, I think he learned a lot from you when you were Conan and I'm grateful about that."

"It's good," she added, taking another bite of the slice on her plate. "Where'd he get it?"

"You know, I'm not sure."

Ran giggled. "You two are hilarious, you know that?"

"I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment," Shinichi muttered, scowling a little halfheartedly. "So… You and Hakuba are…?"

"Something wrong with that?"

"No. Hakuba's a good guy. I just didn't think you'd end up with a detective after everything that's happened."

"Yeah, me neither." Ran glanced thoughtfully across the room at Hakuba, who was well on his way to throwing a fit at having the walls of his living room repainted. "But, as you said, he's a good guy. And you know, he's almost always been on time when we decide to go out somewhere. And when he's held up by a case, he always calls. It's…refreshing, if a bit of a surprise."

Shinichi winced. "Sorry."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way! And besides, I think everything worked out for the best."

And she meant it, Shinichi knew, just as he knew deep down that he agreed. He smiled faintly as Kaito vaulted over the sofa, cackling like a madman. Missing meetings with Kaito was never a problem. Whenever Shinichi failed to show up on time for an appointment with him, the magician promptly came to fetch him. And no matter where the detective was, even if it was down in the bowels of a not-so-abandoned building slated for demolition, he always managed to find him. And, well, when you knew Kaito as well as he now did, finding the magician in return was seldom a problem either.

His train of thought was interrupted as Ran murmured under her breath, "Do you think he's asked her yet?"

Bewildered, Shinichi turned to regard her curiously. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" She smiled brightly and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "Hattori-kun's planning to ask Kazuha to marry him!"

.

Shinichi thought failing to ask would have been a better description at the moment.

"I can't do it."

Hakuba raised his eyebrows, folding his arms across his chest. "What happened? You never hesitate this long for anything."

Heiji glowered at him.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "I was meaning it as encouragement."

"Well, it wasn't encouraging."

"You're just going to get more nervous the longer you wait," Shinichi pointed out.

"And worse," Hakuba added. "You aren't the only ones Ran invited. We get the early night to ourselves, but then Mouri-san, your parents," he nodded at Shinichi, "Kuroba's mother, Takagi-keiji, Satou-keiji, Nakamouri-keibu, and everyone else will be joining us. If you're embarrassed now with just us, imagine how embarrassed you're going to be if you have to propose in front of the parents and half the Beika and Ekoda police forces."

When Heiji continued to remain silent—probably shocked into horrified speechlessness at that thought—Kaito shook his head and stood up from the chair he'd been lounging in while listening to the conversation.

"Hey, Toyama-san," he called cheerfully across the room, "Hattori here has something he wanted to ask you!"

The Osaka detective jerked around to give him a slightly panicked look. "What are you doing?"

"What I do best—helping things happen."

Dropping down into Kaito's vacated chair, Shinichi hid a grin as he and everyone else watched a confused Kazuha approach. Two years since the four of them had returned home, two years since the Organization fell and three months since Snake had finally joined them, bringing them all together at such a moment. And as Heiji stammered out his question almost too fast to understand and thrust the ring into her hands, and Kazuha stared in shock for a second before bursting into tears and throwing her arms around him… Well, it was amazing how many things could happen in two years.

"You idiot, what took you so long?"

After that, the evening devolved into random chatter and games for whoever felt like playing. And as various members of the older guests arrived, they'd join in or migrate towards the food.

The first time Kaito had played cards at one of the department socials, he'd won twenty consecutive games before Shinichi noticed and arrived from the refreshment tables to stop him. After that, none of them would let the magician play unless someone else handled his cards. It wasn't fair, Kaito had protested, but as it did free up his hands for other, more _interesting_ things, those complaints were short-lived.

Needless to say, they didn't end up playing cards very often. Though Shinichi made an exception for today since it _was _New Year's Eve, and handled the magician's cards until his mother arrived and he got up to greet her.

After he'd gone, Hakuba raised an eyebrow at Shinichi. "Kuroba seems…different."

Though he couldn't seem to put his finger on why.

Shinichi shrugged, accepting the cards Aoko dealt out and glancing through them. "Not really, just a weird combination of relaxed and excited. I guess he's still getting used to the idea of having the rest of his life ahead of him."

"You too, I would say."

Shinichi paused, his gaze going unfocused for just a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But I suppose that's just how it is when you finish with a case so big it literally changed your life forever." Looking back at his fellow detective, he asked, "And you? What are your plans?"

"Well… KID was a large part of the reason I came to Japan originally, and now that he's retired, I thought maybe I'd head back to England for awhile. Ran's thinking about studying abroad there, so I promised to take her with me for a private tour. After that, I don't know. I suppose it'll be back to business as usual."

"For as long as it lasts," Shinichi mused, half talking to himself. It didn't really seem likely that this peace they had found would last forever. They weren't the kinds of people whose interests and occupations could keep things that way for long. But for as long as it did last, they would all sure as hell do their best to enjoy it. There was a lot more to life than crimes and mystery and justice. It might have been a hard lesson to learn at times, but they'd learned it and they wouldn't forget.

When Ran and Sonoko set up the karaoke, Shinichi scooted back into a far corner so as to avoid any misguided requests for him to take a turn upon the stage. A hand suddenly closed around his and Shinichi looked up to find Kaito watching him intently. When he saw that he had his attention, the magician inclined his head towards the door.

Amidst the laughter and the cheer, no one noticed the two young men slip away.

.

"You know, people are going to notice if you keep wearing that out."

Kaito grinned, the light from the city spread out below them glinting off the lens of his monocle. "It's good for people to see me once in a while. To the world, the Phantom Thief KID will always soar the skies at night, the mysterious and uncatchable master magician thief, performer of the impossible, tantalizing the imagination and making people wonder when he will strike again."

"Still as arrogant as ever," Shinichi snorted, but he seemed more amused than annoyed. "Your own special brand of immortality."

"You could put it that way," Kaito agreed, folding his arms behind his head, "the good kind—the only kind that keeps the dreams coming."

"Hmm."

The two of them stood at the top of the Ekoda clock tower where they had technically first met, though neither of them had even know the other's name then. That particular tower had proved to be the site of a lot of first times, really. The first time they met, the first time they had watched the New Year's fireworks together—and the second time, and likely many more times to come.

"So do you have any New Year's resolutions?" Kaito asked casually.

"I guess I'm still thinking about it." Shinichi shrugged. "To try something new, maybe."

"Something new," Kaito mused, tugging at the brim of his white top hat. "Sounds good to me. Maybe you should try writing a story. You've certainly got more than enough material."

"Hmm, not sure how interesting that would be."

"Or I could write the mystery part and you could write the solving it part."

"That might work," Shinichi laughed. "And you?"

A familiar, sharp grin, "Isn't it obvious? To become the greatest magician of all time!"

From this vantage point, they had an unparalleled view of the fireworks as they lit up the clear night sky, streaming showers of multicolored lights so bright they left purple afterimages against the backs of their eyelids. Amidst the muffled explosions that marked the coming of the New Year, Kaito drew Shinichi against him and used his free hand to tilt his head back. Their lips met and the detective closed his eyes, moving to wrap his arms around Kaito's neck.

He could still remember that heist vividly, the rhythmic thrum of the helicopter propellers, voices blaring over the intercom, and a solitary figure dressed all in white standing balanced upon the clock hands. If anyone had told him then that years later he would end up in the thief's arms being kissed senseless atop that very same clock tower and enjoying every second of it, he would have scoffed and written them off as having lost their minds. And yet here they were. Life tended to take strange turns wherever the magician thief was concerned anyway.

Things change, Kaito had said at that dinner before he'd begun working with Shinichi and the police. And it was true, but there were also a lot of things that didn't and probably never would. His parents would always be insane. Heiji and Kazuha would always argue. Hakuba would always be wary of a certain magician who liked to dress in white. Shinichi would always be a Sherlock Holmes fan. They would always remember the trials they had gone through that had brought them together and made them into who they were now.

And Kaito would always be Kaito.

Shinichi took rather a lot more comfort from this last thought than he would have liked to admit, likely because of how much he knew he himself had changed. He could not help but admire how the magician could still laugh and smile so easily despite everything that had happened. Granted, that laughter wasn't always genuine and his smile sometimes had knives in it, but there were other times too—joyous and pleased laughter when a trick had gone well or his audience was pleased, an impish grin when he was planning something which was almost all the time, the secretive, knowing smile that said he knew far more than he was letting on and wanted you to know it, the gentle, warm, and affectionate smile that he only ever let Shinichi see… The detective's cheeks heated up at that particular memory and he pulled away to rest his cheek against his companion's shoulder to hide it.

One thing was for sure; Kuroba Kaito was in a class of his own. He redefined the boundaries of what was and wasn't possible and that, Shinichi rather suspected, was why he commanded the adoration of so many fans worldwide, aside from the fact that he cut a rather dashing figure in his costume anyway. Every time he dove off the roof of a skyscraper into freefall without fear or hesitation only to vanish alive and triumphant into the moonlit night under the very noses of the police, he defied the impossible and inspired people to believe in magic—that all too precious and elusive belief that anything could happen. And every time he returned what he had stolen or saved a life in accordance to his own strict moral code, he allowed those same people to continue to love him for the freedom he seemed to represent, unhindered by the shadows that usually tainted the characters and actions of other criminals.

He was Kuroba Kaito, the Phantom Thief 1412, the Kaitou KID and the Moonlight Magician. And that was explanation enough for everything.

* * *

**END **

* * *

**AN**: Those last few paragraphs were actually my starting point for this entire story idea. I was musing about Kaitou KID and trying to figure out why I liked him so much as a character (other than being just plain entertaining).

In any case, I can't believe I finished! I am hoping to write more stories on this universe since the history and everything is already set up, but I guess I'll have to see about story ideas.

Thanks for reading and please review!


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